Best PlacesRocky Mount, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Rocky Mount metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Melissa Platero, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Rocky Mount ranks 362nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on crime and cell coverage. It does better on state finances, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Rocky Mount 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 Rocky Mount
The towns and districts of the Rocky Mount 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.
Nashville & Red Oak
Local pay stretches further, crime runs lower, and incomes run higher.
Spring Hope
More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.
Bailey & Middlesex
Biking is worse and commutes are longer.
Tarboro & Pinetops
It is quieter, though prices have run up more.
Downtown Rocky Mount
Streets are more walkable, though health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Rocky Mount run from about the 1st to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Rocky Mount's strengths and weaknesses
Rocky Mount ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. State finances, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: crime, cell coverage, and education levels all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Rocky Mount ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$718 a month, better than 76% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of metro areas
Where Rocky Mount ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Rocky Mount
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rocky Mount home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,960, 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 Rocky Mount's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rocky Mount
Rocky Mount runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rocky Mount.
Who works in Rocky Mount, and how
Work in Rocky Mount 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 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rocky Mount
Rocky Mount has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rocky Mount and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Rocky Mount growing, and who is moving in?
Rocky Mount has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Raleigh, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Rocky Mount go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Rocky Mount, month by month
Rocky Mount sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 42° | 31° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 93° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Rocky Mount
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rocky Mount
Schools across Rocky Mount average a B−, better than 73% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Frederick Douglass ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Coopers ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Swift Creek ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elm City MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Nash Central MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Red Oak MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilson Early College AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Nrm Early College High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Edgecombe Early College HighA · 77% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rocky Mount school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rocky Mount 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 Rocky Mount against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Rocky Mount suits
Common questions about living in Rocky Mount
Is Rocky Mount a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rocky Mount ranks 362nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on crime and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rocky Mount expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $178,209. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $65,960 median income, cost of living beats 21% of metro areas.
Is Rocky Mount safe?
Rocky Mount is safer than 0% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $787 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rocky Mount?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 55 with lows near 31. That works out to about 67 pleasant days a year, more than 16% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Rocky Mount?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Nashville & Red Oak, Spring Hope, and Bailey & Middlesex. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Rocky Mount good for families?
Schools beat 73% of metro areas, crime safety beats 0%, and childcare runs $718 a month.
Is Rocky Mount good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 21% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 36% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Rocky Mount with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rocky Mount. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rocky Mount 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.
Rocky Mount detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rocky Mount: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rocky Mount: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rocky Mount: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rocky Mount: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rocky Mount 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.