Best PlacesMurray Town, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Murray Town, 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.
Murray Town ranks 43,456th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Murray Town
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.
Murray Town's strengths and weaknesses
Where Murray Town ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 81% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 78% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of towns
Where Murray Town ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Short commute35.0 minutes each way, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Murray Town
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Murray Town home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,694, 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 Murray Town's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Murray Town
Murray Town 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 Murray Town.
Who works in Murray Town, and how
Work in Murray Town centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Murray Town
The coast is about 38 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Murray Town, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Murray Town, month by month
Murray Town sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 44° | 33° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Murray Town
The nearest airport, Albert J Ellis, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Murray Town
Schools across Murray Town average a B, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Penderlea ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- C.f. Pope ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Burgaw MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Pender Early College HighA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Murray Town school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Murray Town 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 Murray Town against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Murray Town
Is Murray Town a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Murray Town ranks 43,456th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and tree cover, 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 Murray Town expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $197,397. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $64,694 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Murray Town safe?
Murray Town is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $541 per resident a year.
Compare Murray Town with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Murray Town. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Murray Town 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.
Murray Town detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Murray Town: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Murray Town: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Murray Town: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Murray Town: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Murray Town 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.