Best PlacesProspect Hill, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prospect Hill, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Prospect Hill ranks 6,938th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Prospect 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.
Prospect Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prospect Hill ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- Household income$95,137 median, better than 81% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 80% of towns
Where Prospect Hill ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 24% of towns
- Short commute29.8 minutes each way, better than only 34% of towns
- School gradeC+, better than only 42% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prospect Hill
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prospect Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,137, 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 Prospect Hill's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Prospect Hill
Prospect Hill 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 Prospect Hill.
Who works in Prospect Hill, and how
Work in Prospect Hill centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Prospect Hill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prospect Hill.
What the weather is like in Prospect Hill, month by month
Prospect Hill sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Prospect Hill
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 37 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 Prospect Hill
Schools across Prospect Hill average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- N L Dillard MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Bartlett Yancey HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prospect Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prospect 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 Prospect Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prospect Hill
Is Prospect Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prospect Hill ranks 6,938th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, what local pay buys, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on walkability and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prospect Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,790. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $95,137 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Prospect Hill safe?
Yes, Prospect Hill is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
Compare Prospect Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prospect Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prospect 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.
Prospect Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prospect Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prospect Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prospect Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prospect Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prospect 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.