Best PlacesMontreat, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Montreat, 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.
Montreat ranks 23,148th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Montreat
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.
Montreat's strengths and weaknesses
Where Montreat ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Montreat ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$46,268 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Montreat
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montreat home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $46,268, 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 Montreat's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Montreat
Montreat runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Montreat.
Who works in Montreat, and how
Work in Montreat centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in Montreat
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Montreat.
What the weather is like in Montreat, month by month
Montreat sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 38° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Montreat
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Montreat
Schools across Montreat average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Black Mountain PrimaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Owen MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Middle CollegeB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montreat school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montreat 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 Montreat against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Montreat
Is Montreat a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montreat ranks 23,148th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, tree cover, and biking, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montreat expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $419,987. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $46,268 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Montreat safe?
Yes, Montreat is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
Compare Montreat with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montreat. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montreat 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.
Montreat detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montreat: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montreat: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montreat: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montreat: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montreat 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.