Best PlacesRockingham County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Rockingham 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.
Rockingham County ranks 1,145th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rockingham 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 Rockingham County
The parts of Rockingham 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.
Stokesdale & Summerfield
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Wentworth
It is quieter and tree cover is thicker.
Stoneville
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Madison & Mayodan
Crime runs lower, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Eden
Streets are more walkable.
Reidsville
Scores close to Eden, except that commutes are longer here.
Rockingham County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 9% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Rockingham County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockingham County ranks high
- School gradeB+, better than 91% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of counties
Where Rockingham County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 25% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 29% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 30% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 30% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Rockingham County
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockingham County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,543, 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 Rockingham County's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rockingham County
Rockingham County 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 Rockingham County.
Who works in Rockingham County, and how
Work in Rockingham County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rockingham County
Rockingham 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 Rockingham County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Rockingham County growing, and who is moving in?
Rockingham County has grown about 2% 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 Rockingham County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Rockingham County, month by month
Rockingham County sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 73° | 59° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Rockingham County
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rockingham County
Schools across Rockingham County average a B+, better than 91% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bethany ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Wentworth ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- Lincoln ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rockingham County MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Western Rockingham MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- J E Holmes MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Rockingham Co Early College HighA+ · 91% proficient
- Rockingham County HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Bethany Community SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockingham County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockingham 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 Rockingham County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Rockingham County suits
Common questions about living in Rockingham County
Is Rockingham County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockingham County ranks 1,145th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, low disaster risk, and state finances, and lowest on education levels and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rockingham County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $176,719. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $61,543 median income, cost of living beats 38% of counties.
Is Rockingham County safe?
Rockingham County is safer than 51% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $386 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rockingham County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 28. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Rockingham County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Stokesdale & Summerfield, Wentworth, and Stoneville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Rockingham County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockingham County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockingham 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.
Rockingham County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockingham County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockingham County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockingham County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockingham County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockingham 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.