Best PlacesMaple, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maple, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Maple ranks 7,108th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Maple
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.
Maple's strengths and weaknesses
Where Maple ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- Household income$100,121 median, better than 85% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of towns
Where Maple ranks low
- Short commute38.9 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 26% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 36% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Maple
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maple home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,121, 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 Maple's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Maple
Maple's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Maple.
Who works in Maple, and how
Work in Maple centers on education and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Maple
The coast is about 44 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Maple, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Maple, month by month
Maple sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 71° | 61° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Maple
The nearest airport, Norfolk International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Maple
Schools across Maple average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shawboro Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Central ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Currituck County MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- The Jp Knapp Ech (i)schoolA+ · 91% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maple school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maple 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 Maple against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Maple
Is Maple a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maple ranks 7,108th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and what local pay buys, and lowest on long commutes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maple expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $355,836. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $100,121 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Maple safe?
Yes, Maple is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $270 per resident a year.
Compare Maple with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maple. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maple 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.
Maple detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maple: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maple: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maple: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maple: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maple 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.