Best PlacesRaleigh, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Raleigh metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Abhiram Juvvadi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Raleigh ranks 3rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $110,699, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are the weather, long commutes, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in the Raleigh metro
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.
The best areas in Raleigh
The towns and districts of the Raleigh metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Morrisville
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Cary & Apex
Biking is better, though homes cost more.
Holly Springs & Fuquay-Varina
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Downtown Raleigh
Tree cover is thicker.
Wake Forest, Youngsville & Louisburg
It is quieter, though health outcomes score lower.
Garner & Willow Spring
Commutes are longer and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Knightdale & Wendell
Schools score lower and fewer residents vote.
Clayton, Smithfield & Selma
Advertised internet is slower.
Raleigh shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Raleigh's strengths and weaknesses
Raleigh ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. A strong job market and high incomes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, long commutes, and an overheated housing market hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Raleigh ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Household income$110,699 median, better than 94% of metro areas
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of metro areas
Where Raleigh ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of metro areas
- Short commute26.8 minutes each way, better than only 15% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 21% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,133 a month, better than only 24% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 32% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Raleigh
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Raleigh home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $110,699; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Raleigh's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Raleigh
Raleigh'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 Raleigh.
Who works in Raleigh, and how
Work in Raleigh centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Raleigh
Raleigh has more parkland per resident than 68% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 73% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Raleigh and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Raleigh growing, and who is moving in?
Raleigh has grown about 26% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chapel Hill, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Raleigh go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Raleigh, month by month
Raleigh sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 31° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Raleigh
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 9 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 Raleigh
Schools across Raleigh average an A−, better than 94% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Quest AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- White Oak ElementaryA+ · 91% proficient
- Endeavor Charter SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mills Park MiddleA+ · 89% proficient
- Magellan CharterA+ · 88% proficient
- Davis Drive MiddleA+ · 87% proficient
Top high schools
- Raleigh Charter High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Wake Stem Early College High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Green Level HighA+ · 92% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Raleigh school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Raleigh 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 Raleigh against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Raleigh suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 26% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Raleigh
Is Raleigh a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Raleigh ranks 3rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a strong job market, and high incomes, and lowest on the weather and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Raleigh expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $448,451. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $110,699 median income, cost of living beats 99% of metro areas.
Is Raleigh safe?
Yes, Raleigh is safer than 63% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $342 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Raleigh?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 31. That works out to about 65 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Raleigh?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Morrisville, Cary & Apex, and Holly Springs & Fuquay-Varina. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Raleigh good for families?
Schools beat 94% of metro areas, crime safety beats 63%, and childcare runs $1,133 a month.
Is Raleigh good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 91% of metro areas. About 26% of workers already work from home.
Compare Raleigh with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Raleigh. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Raleigh 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.
Raleigh detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Raleigh: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Raleigh: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Raleigh: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Raleigh: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Raleigh 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.