Best PlacesMaggie Valley, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maggie Valley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Maggie Valley ranks 13,172nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Maggie Valley
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.
Maggie Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maggie Valley ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of towns
Where Maggie Valley ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 29% of towns
- Household income$64,722 median, better than only 36% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Maggie Valley
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maggie Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,722, 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 Maggie Valley's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Maggie Valley
Maggie Valley 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 Maggie Valley.
Who works in Maggie Valley, and how
Work in Maggie Valley centers on retail trade and arts & entertainment. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Maggie Valley
Maggie Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Maggie Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Maggie Valley, month by month
Maggie Valley sees roughly 97 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 Maggie Valley
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Maggie Valley
Schools across Maggie Valley average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Junaluska ElementaryA · 66% proficient
- Jonathan Valley ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Scotts Creek ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waynesville MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Swain County Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Haywood Early CollegeA+ · 92% proficient
- Jackson Co Early CollegeA+ · 85% proficient
- Smoky Mountain High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maggie Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maggie Valley 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 Maggie Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Maggie Valley
Is Maggie Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maggie Valley ranks 13,172nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maggie Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $309,777. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $64,722 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Maggie Valley safe?
Yes, Maggie Valley is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
Compare Maggie Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maggie Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maggie Valley 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.
Maggie Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maggie Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maggie Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maggie Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maggie Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maggie Valley 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.