Best PlacesMill Creek, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mill Creek, 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.
Mill Creek ranks 14,361st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mill Creek
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.
Mill Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mill Creek ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Mill Creek ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mill Creek
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mill Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,973, 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 Mill Creek's effective rate of 0.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Mill Creek
Mill Creek 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 Mill Creek.
Who works in Mill Creek, and how
Work in Mill Creek centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Mill Creek
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Mill Creek, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mill Creek, month by month
Mill Creek sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 73° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 88° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 78° | 68° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Mill Creek
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mill Creek
Schools across Mill Creek average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Beaufort ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Morehead City PrimaryA− · 58% proficient
- Morehead Elem At Camp GlennA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newport MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Beaufort MiddleA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- East Carteret HighA · 73% proficient
- West Carteret HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mill Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mill Creek 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 Mill Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mill Creek
Is Mill Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mill Creek ranks 14,361st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, health care access, and tree cover, and lowest on disaster risk and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mill Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $270,702. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $85,973 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Mill Creek safe?
Yes, Mill Creek is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
Compare Mill Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mill Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mill Creek 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.
Mill Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mill Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mill Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mill Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mill Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mill Creek 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.