Best PlacesRaleigh, ND Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Raleigh, 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.
Raleigh ranks 23,064th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Raleigh
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.
Raleigh's strengths and weaknesses
Where Raleigh ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
Where Raleigh ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Raleigh
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Raleigh home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,000, 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 Raleigh's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 3 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 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 Raleigh.
Who works in Raleigh, and how
Work in Raleigh centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Raleigh
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Raleigh.
What the weather is like in Raleigh, month by month
Raleigh sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 8° |
| April | 53° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Raleigh
The nearest airport, Bismarck Municipal, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 408 miles away.
The best schools in and around Raleigh
Schools across Raleigh average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Roosevelt Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Flasher Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Flasher High SchoolD · 20% 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Raleigh
Is Raleigh a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Raleigh ranks 23,064th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, a stable housing market, and low taxes, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. 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 $95,000. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $70,000 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Raleigh safe?
Raleigh is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $545 per resident a year.
Compare Raleigh with other towns
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.
- 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.