Best PlacesMill Spring, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mill Spring, 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 Spring ranks 16,779th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mill Spring
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 Spring's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mill Spring ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
Where Mill Spring ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of towns
- Short commute34.4 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mill Spring
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mill Spring home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $70,918; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Spring's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Mill Spring
Mill Spring runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mill Spring.
Who works in Mill Spring, and how
Work in Mill Spring centers on health care & social and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mill Spring
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mill Spring.
What the weather is like in Mill Spring, month by month
Mill Spring sees roughly 86 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 Mill Spring
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mill Spring
Schools across Mill Spring average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hendersonville ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Polk Central Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Tryon Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Polk County Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Apple Valley MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- R-s Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Henderson County Early CollegeA+ · 93% proficient
- Rutherford Early College High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Polk County Early CollegeA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mill Spring school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mill Spring 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 Spring against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mill Spring
Is Mill Spring a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mill Spring ranks 16,779th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a strong job market, and good schools, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mill Spring expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $310,177. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $70,918 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Mill Spring safe?
Yes, Mill Spring is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
Compare Mill Spring with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mill Spring. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mill Spring 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 Spring detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mill Spring: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mill Spring: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mill Spring: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mill Spring: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mill Spring 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.