Best PlacesScaly Mountain, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Scaly Mountain, 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.
Scaly Mountain ranks 16,908th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Scaly Mountain
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.
Scaly Mountain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Scaly Mountain ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 91% of towns
Where Scaly Mountain ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Scaly Mountain
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Scaly Mountain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $63,958, 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 Scaly Mountain's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Scaly Mountain
Scaly Mountain 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 Scaly Mountain.
Who works in Scaly Mountain, and how
Work in Scaly Mountain centers on hospitality & food and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Scaly Mountain
Scaly Mountain has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Scaly Mountain and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Scaly Mountain, month by month
Scaly Mountain sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Scaly Mountain
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Scaly Mountain
Schools across Scaly Mountain average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Macon ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Blue Ridge SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mountain View IntermediateB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Macon Early College High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Scaly Mountain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Scaly Mountain 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 Scaly Mountain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Scaly Mountain
Is Scaly Mountain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Scaly Mountain ranks 16,908th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, tree cover, and a strong job market, and lowest on cell coverage and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Scaly Mountain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $412,129. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $63,958 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Scaly Mountain safe?
Scaly Mountain is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $366 per resident a year.
Compare Scaly Mountain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Scaly Mountain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Scaly Mountain 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.
Scaly Mountain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Scaly Mountain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Scaly Mountain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Scaly Mountain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Scaly Mountain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Scaly Mountain 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.