Best PlacesLynn, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lynn, 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.
Lynn ranks 16,791st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lynn
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.
Lynn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lynn ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Lynn ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
- Household income$61,250 median, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lynn
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lynn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,250, 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 Lynn's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Lynn
Lynn 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 Lynn.
Who works in Lynn, and how
Work in Lynn centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lynn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lynn.
What the weather is like in Lynn, month by month
Lynn sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Lynn
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lynn
Schools across Lynn average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tryon Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Polk County Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Polk County Early CollegeA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lynn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lynn 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 Lynn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lynn
Is Lynn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lynn ranks 16,791st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and tree cover, 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 Lynn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $330,900. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $61,250 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Lynn safe?
Yes, Lynn is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $220 per resident a year.
Compare Lynn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lynn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lynn 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.
Lynn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lynn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lynn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lynn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lynn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lynn 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.