Best PlacesLinville, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Linville, 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.
Linville ranks 21,051st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Linville
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.
Linville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Linville ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
Where Linville ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 25% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Linville
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Linville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $72,014; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Linville's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 Linville
Linville 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 Linville.
Who works in Linville, and how
Work in Linville centers on education 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 80%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Linville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Linville.
What the weather is like in Linville, month by month
Linville sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Linville
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Linville
Schools across Linville average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Banner Elk ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Newland ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avery MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Avery County HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Linville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Linville 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 Linville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Linville
Is Linville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Linville ranks 21,051st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, tree cover, and heat safety, and lowest on a weak job market and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Linville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $317,710. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $72,014 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Linville safe?
Linville is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $412 per resident a year.
Compare Linville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Linville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Linville 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.
Linville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Linville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Linville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Linville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Linville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Linville 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.