Best PlacesLawndale, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lawndale, 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.
Lawndale ranks 28,230th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lawndale
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.
Lawndale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lawndale ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 67% of towns
Where Lawndale ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Household income$55,366 median, better than only 20% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 23% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lawndale
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lawndale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,366, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Lawndale's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lawndale
Lawndale runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lawndale.
Who works in Lawndale, and how
Work in Lawndale centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lawndale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lawndale.
What the weather is like in Lawndale, month by month
Lawndale sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 41° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Lawndale
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 38 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lawndale
Schools across Lawndale average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Casar ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Banoak ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- North Brook ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jacobs Fork MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Burns MiddleA · 61% proficient
- East Burke MiddleA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Challenger Early College HighA+ · 94% proficient
- Burke Middle CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
- Cleveland EchsA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lawndale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lawndale 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 Lawndale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lawndale
Is Lawndale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lawndale ranks 28,230th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on a weak job market and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lawndale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,776. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $55,366 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Lawndale safe?
Lawndale is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $461 per resident a year.
Compare Lawndale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lawndale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lawndale 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.
Lawndale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lawndale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lawndale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lawndale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lawndale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lawndale 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.