Best PlacesPadgett, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Padgett, 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.
Padgett ranks 32,308th 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 Padgett
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.
Padgett's strengths and weaknesses
Where Padgett ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
Where Padgett ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Padgett
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Padgett home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,465, 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 Padgett's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Padgett
Padgett runs younger 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 Padgett.
Who works in Padgett, and how
Work in Padgett centers on other services and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Padgett
The coast is about 34 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Padgett, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Padgett, month by month
Padgett sees roughly 62 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 Padgett
The nearest airport, Albert J Ellis, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Padgett
Schools across Padgett average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dixon ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Southwest ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Meadow View ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dixon MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Southwest MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Burgaw MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Pender Early College HighA+ · 93% proficient
- Dixon HighA− · 65% proficient
- Southwest HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Padgett school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Padgett 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 Padgett against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Padgett
Is Padgett a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Padgett ranks 32,308th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, state finances, and population health, and lowest on disaster risk and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Padgett expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,932. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $65,465 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Padgett safe?
Padgett is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $570 per resident a year.
Compare Padgett with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Padgett. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Padgett 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.
Padgett detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Padgett: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Padgett: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Padgett: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Padgett: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Padgett 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.