Best PlacesRodanthe, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rodanthe, 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.
Rodanthe ranks 38,310th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rodanthe
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.
Rodanthe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rodanthe ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
Where Rodanthe ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rodanthe
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rodanthe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,650, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Rodanthe's effective rate of 0.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rodanthe
Rodanthe 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 Rodanthe.
Who works in Rodanthe, and how
Work in Rodanthe centers on real estate and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 26%
Life in Rodanthe
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rodanthe, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rodanthe, month by month
Rodanthe sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 44° | 37° |
| April | 69° | 60° | 53° |
| July | 86° | 80° | 74° |
| October | 72° | 66° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Rodanthe
The nearest airport, Coastal Carolina Regional, is about 96 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Richmond International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rodanthe
Schools across Rodanthe average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cape Hatteras Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Manteo Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manteo Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Manteo High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Cape Hatteras Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rodanthe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rodanthe 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 Rodanthe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rodanthe
Is Rodanthe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rodanthe ranks 38,310th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, health care access, and biking, and lowest on crime and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rodanthe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $431,900. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $60,650 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Rodanthe safe?
Rodanthe is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,787 per resident a year.
Compare Rodanthe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rodanthe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rodanthe 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.
Rodanthe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rodanthe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rodanthe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rodanthe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rodanthe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rodanthe 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.