Best PlacesNorth Topsail Beach, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Topsail Beach, 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 Topsail Beach ranks 10,347th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in North Topsail Beach
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 Topsail Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Topsail Beach ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
Where North Topsail Beach ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Short commute37.2 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Topsail Beach
A household needs to earn about $141,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Topsail Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $114,895, 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 North Topsail Beach's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Topsail Beach
North Topsail Beach 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 North Topsail Beach.
Who works in North Topsail Beach, and how
Work in North Topsail Beach 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 53%
- Work from home 46%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in North Topsail Beach
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across North Topsail Beach, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Topsail Beach, month by month
North Topsail Beach sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of North Topsail Beach
The nearest airport, Albert J Ellis, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around North Topsail Beach
Schools across North Topsail Beach average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Topsail ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Dixon ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Topsail MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- Dixon MiddleA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Pender Early College HighA+ · 93% proficient
- Dixon HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Topsail Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Topsail Beach 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 Topsail Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Topsail Beach
Is North Topsail Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Topsail Beach ranks 10,347th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, health care access, and civic engagement, 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 North Topsail Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $541,953. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $114,895 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is North Topsail Beach safe?
Yes, North Topsail Beach is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.
Compare North Topsail Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Topsail Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Topsail Beach 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 Topsail Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Topsail Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Topsail Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Topsail Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Topsail Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Topsail Beach 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.