Best PlacesMount Holly, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Holly, 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.
Mount Holly ranks 852nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Holly
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.
Mount Holly's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Holly ranks high
- Cheap childcare$626 a month, better than 95% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 95% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 92% of cities
- School gradeA−, better than 89% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of cities
Where Mount Holly ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 7% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Holly
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Holly home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $78,055; 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 Mount Holly's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Mount Holly
Mount Holly's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mount Holly.
Who works in Mount Holly, and how
Work in Mount Holly centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mount Holly
Mount Holly has more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Mount Holly and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mount Holly, month by month
Mount Holly sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 31° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 49° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Mount Holly
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mount Holly
Schools across Mount Holly average an A−, better than 89% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Pinewood ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Ida Rankin Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- North Belmont ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belmont MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Francis Bradley MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Stanley MiddleA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Levine Middle College High SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Gaston Early College High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Cato Middle College High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Holly school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Holly 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 Mount Holly against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Mount Holly suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Mount Holly
Is Mount Holly a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Holly ranks 852nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and tree cover, and lowest on biking and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Holly expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $312,915. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $78,055 median income, cost of living beats 49% of cities.
Is Mount Holly safe?
Yes, Mount Holly is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mount Holly?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 31. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of cities.
Is Mount Holly good for families?
Schools beat 89% of cities, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $626 a month.
Compare Mount Holly with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Holly. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Holly 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.
Mount Holly detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Holly: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Holly: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Holly: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Holly: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Holly 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.