Best PlacesMorehead City, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Morehead City, 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.
Morehead City ranks 14,717th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Morehead City
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.
Morehead City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Morehead City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
Where Morehead City ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Morehead City
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Morehead City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,235, 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 Morehead City's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Morehead City
Morehead City 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 Morehead City.
Who works in Morehead City, and how
Work in Morehead City centers on health care & social and retail trade. 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 Morehead City
Morehead City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Morehead City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Morehead City, month by month
Morehead City 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 Morehead City
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 139 miles away.
The best schools in and around Morehead City
Schools across Morehead City average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Beaufort ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Morehead City PrimaryA− · 58% proficient
- Morehead Elem At Camp GlennA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Morehead City MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Newport MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Beaufort MiddleA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Marine Sci. And Tech. Early College HsA+ · 85% proficient
- 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 Morehead City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Morehead City 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 Morehead City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Morehead City
Is Morehead City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Morehead City ranks 14,717th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, health care access, and biking, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Morehead City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $344,643. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $75,235 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Morehead City safe?
Yes, Morehead City is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Morehead City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Morehead City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Morehead City 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.
Morehead City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Morehead City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Morehead City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Morehead City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Morehead City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Morehead City 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.