Best PlacesLaurel, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laurel, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Laurel ranks 42,196th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Laurel
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Laurel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laurel ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 91% of towns
Where Laurel ranks low
- Short commute54.3 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,678 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laurel
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laurel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $36,678, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Laurel's effective rate of 0.33%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Laurel
Laurel runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Laurel.
Who works in Laurel, and how
Work in Laurel centers on retail trade and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Laurel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Laurel.
What the weather is like in Laurel, month by month
Laurel sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Laurel
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Laurel
Schools across Laurel average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brush Creek ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Madison Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison Early College HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laurel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laurel measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Laurel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laurel
Is Laurel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laurel ranks 42,196th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, heat safety, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laurel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $333,100. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $36,678 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Laurel safe?
Laurel is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $456 per resident a year.
Compare Laurel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laurel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laurel represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Laurel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laurel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laurel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laurel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laurel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laurel detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.