Best PlacesSchley, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Schley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Schley ranks 1,613th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Schley
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.
Schley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Schley ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
Where Schley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,360 a month, better than only 7% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Schley
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Schley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $122,151; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Schley's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Schley
Schley 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 Schley.
Who works in Schley, and how
Work in Schley centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Schley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Schley.
What the weather is like in Schley, month by month
Schley sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Schley
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 22 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Schley
Schools across Schley average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hillsborough ElementaryA · 69% proficient
- Pathways ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orange MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Orange HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Schley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Schley 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 Schley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Schley
Is Schley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Schley ranks 1,613th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and civic engagement, and lowest on childcare costs and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Schley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $478,123. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $122,151 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Schley safe?
Schley is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $439 per resident a year.
Compare Schley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Schley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Schley 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.
Schley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Schley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Schley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Schley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Schley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Schley 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.