Best PlacesRandolph County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Randolph County, 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.
Randolph County ranks 1,208th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on tree cover and state finances. The weaker spots are education levels, walkability, and biking.
The best neighborhoods in Randolph County
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 Randolph County
The parts of Randolph County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Seagrove
It is quieter, more adults hold degrees, and incomes run higher.
Trinity, Archdale & Sophia
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Liberty & Pleasant Garden
Fewer households have young kids.
Randleman
Health care is harder to reach and health outcomes score lower.
Ramseur, Franklinville & Staley
Local pay stretches less far and commutes are longer.
Asheboro
Prices have run up more and crime runs higher.
Scores across Randolph County run from about the 12th to the 84th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Randolph County's strengths and weaknesses
Randolph County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Tree cover, state finances, and cheap car insurance carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Education levels, walkability, and biking hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Randolph County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 85% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of counties
- School gradeB, better than 84% of counties
Where Randolph County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 17% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 18% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 32% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 35% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 39% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Randolph County
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Randolph County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,604, 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 Randolph County's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Randolph County
Randolph County'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 Randolph County.
Who works in Randolph County, and how
Work in Randolph County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Randolph County
Randolph County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Randolph County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Randolph County growing, and who is moving in?
Randolph County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Greensboro, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Randolph County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Randolph County, month by month
Randolph County sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 72° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Randolph County
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Randolph County
Schools across Randolph County average a B, better than 84% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hopewell Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Archdale Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Seagrove Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wheatmore Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Northeastern Randolph Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Southwestern Randolph MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Randolph Early College High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Wheatmore High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Trinity High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Randolph County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Randolph County 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 Randolph County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Randolph County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Randolph County
Is Randolph County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Randolph County ranks 1,208th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, state finances, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on education levels and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Randolph County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,113. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $66,604 median income, cost of living beats 39% of counties.
Is Randolph County safe?
Randolph County is safer than 42% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $388 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Randolph County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 32. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Randolph County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Seagrove, Trinity, Archdale & Sophia, and Liberty & Pleasant Garden. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Randolph County good for families?
Schools beat 84% of counties, crime safety beats 42%, and childcare runs $726 a month.
Is Randolph County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 39% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 84% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Randolph County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Randolph County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Randolph County 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.
Randolph County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Randolph County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Randolph County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Randolph County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Randolph County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Randolph County 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.