Best PlacesNorth Side, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Side, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
North Side ranks 3,410th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in North Side
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.
North Side's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Side ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$122,226 median, better than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
Where North Side ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 56 pleasant days a year, better than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cheap childcare$969 a month, better than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Side
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Side home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,226, 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 North Side's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 North Side
North Side'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 North Side.
Who works in North Side, and how
Work in North Side centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in North Side
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across North Side.
What the weather is like in North Side, month by month
North Side sees roughly 56 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 31° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of North Side
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around North Side
Schools across North Side average a B, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pleasant Union ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Oak Grove ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Butner-stem ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wakefield MiddleA · 67% proficient
- G. C. Hawley MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Butner-stem MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Granville Early College HighA+ · 87% proficient
- City Of Medicine AcademyA · 78% proficient
- Wakefield HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Side school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Side 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 North Side against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Side
Is North Side a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Side ranks 3,410th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, tree cover, and high incomes, and lowest on the weather 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 North Side expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $441,837. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $122,226 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is North Side safe?
North Side is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $690 per resident a year.
Compare North Side with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Side. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Side 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.
North Side detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Side: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Side: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Side: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Side: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Side 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.