Best PlacesPenny Hill, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penny Hill, 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.
Penny Hill ranks 39,711th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Penny Hill
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.
Penny Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penny Hill ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 78% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 68% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 68% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 67% of towns
Where Penny Hill ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penny Hill
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penny Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,743, 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 Penny Hill's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Penny Hill
Penny Hill'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 Penny Hill.
Who works in Penny Hill, and how
Work in Penny Hill centers on public administration and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Penny Hill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Penny Hill.
What the weather is like in Penny Hill, month by month
Penny Hill sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Penny Hill
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Penny Hill
Schools across Penny Hill average a C+, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Coker-wimberly ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Princeville ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
- Stocks ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- W A Pattillo MiddleC− · 28% proficient
- Phillips MiddleD− · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Edgecombe Early College HighA · 77% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penny Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penny Hill 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 Penny Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penny Hill
Is Penny Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penny Hill ranks 39,711th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and cell coverage, and lowest on crime and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Penny Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $113,690. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $58,743 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Penny Hill safe?
Penny Hill is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $685 per resident a year.
Compare Penny Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penny Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penny Hill 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.
Penny Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penny Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penny Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penny Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penny Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penny Hill 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.