Best PlacesLuck, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Luck, 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.
Luck ranks 36,966th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Luck
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.
Luck's strengths and weaknesses
Where Luck ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
Where Luck ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute36.5 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Luck
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Luck home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,207, 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 Luck's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Luck
Luck runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Luck.
Who works in Luck, and how
Work in Luck centers on construction and wholesale trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Luck
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Luck.
What the weather is like in Luck, month by month
Luck sees roughly 111 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 Luck
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Luck
Schools across Luck average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Canton ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Hot Springs ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Brush Creek ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Madison Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Canton MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Eblen IntermediateC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Haywood Early CollegeA+ · 92% proficient
- Madison Early College HighA · 78% proficient
- Middle CollegeB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Luck school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Luck 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 Luck against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Luck
Is Luck a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Luck ranks 36,966th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, state finances, and fast internet, and lowest on cell coverage 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 Luck expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,236. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $62,207 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Luck safe?
Luck is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $547 per resident a year.
Compare Luck with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Luck. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Luck 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.
Luck detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Luck: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Luck: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Luck: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Luck: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Luck 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.