Best PlacesPiney Ridge, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Piney Ridge, 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.
Piney Ridge ranks 37,607th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Piney Ridge
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.
Piney Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Piney Ridge ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
- Cheap childcare$596 a month, better than 79% of towns
Where Piney Ridge ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Piney Ridge
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Piney Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $47,300, 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 Piney Ridge'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Piney Ridge
Piney Ridge runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Piney Ridge.
Who works in Piney Ridge, and how
Work in Piney Ridge centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Piney Ridge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Piney Ridge.
What the weather is like in Piney Ridge, month by month
Piney Ridge sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 65° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Piney Ridge
The nearest airport, Fayetteville Regional/Grannis Field, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Piney Ridge
Schools across Piney Ridge average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunset Avenue ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Clinton HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Piney Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Piney Ridge 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 Piney Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Piney Ridge
Is Piney Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Piney Ridge ranks 37,607th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, state finances, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Piney Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,200. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $47,300 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Piney Ridge safe?
Yes, Piney Ridge is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
Compare Piney Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Piney Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Piney Ridge 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.
Piney Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Piney Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Piney Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Piney Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Piney Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Piney Ridge 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.