Best PlacesNeedmore, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Needmore, 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.
Needmore ranks 42,019th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Needmore
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.
Needmore's strengths and weaknesses
Where Needmore ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of towns
Where Needmore ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute35.2 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Needmore
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Needmore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $52,590; 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 Needmore's effective rate of 0.34%, 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 Needmore
Needmore 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 Needmore.
Who works in Needmore, and how
Work in Needmore centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Needmore
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Needmore.
What the weather is like in Needmore, month by month
Needmore sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Needmore
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Needmore
Schools across Needmore average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Swain County West ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Iotla Valley ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Swain County Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Mountain View IntermediateB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Macon Early College High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Swain County High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Needmore school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Needmore 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 Needmore against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Needmore
Is Needmore a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Needmore ranks 42,019th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and state finances, and lowest on internet speeds and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Needmore expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,120. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $52,590 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Needmore safe?
Needmore is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $717 per resident a year.
Compare Needmore with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Needmore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Needmore 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.
Needmore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Needmore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Needmore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Needmore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Needmore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Needmore 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.