Best PlacesSilver Spring, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Silver Spring, 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.
Silver Spring ranks 9,801st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Silver Spring
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.
Silver Spring's strengths and weaknesses
Where Silver Spring ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 80% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 77% of towns
Where Silver Spring ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 50 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 32% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Silver Spring
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Silver Spring home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,885, 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 Silver Spring's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Silver Spring
Silver Spring 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 Silver Spring.
Who works in Silver Spring, and how
Work in Silver Spring centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Silver Spring
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Silver Spring.
What the weather is like in Silver Spring, month by month
Silver Spring sees roughly 50 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 42° | 30° |
| April | 78° | 63° | 48° |
| July | 93° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 78° | 63° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Silver Spring
The nearest airport, Fayetteville Regional/Grannis Field, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Silver Spring
Schools across Silver Spring average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mineral Springs ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- West Hoke ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Aberdeen ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Ellerbe MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Spring Hill MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Richmond Early College HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Sandhoke Early College HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Pinecrest HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Silver Spring school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Silver Spring 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 Silver Spring against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Silver Spring
Is Silver Spring a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Silver Spring ranks 9,801st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on the weather and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Silver Spring expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $217,935. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $85,885 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Silver Spring safe?
Yes, Silver Spring is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $264 per resident a year.
Compare Silver Spring with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Silver Spring. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Silver Spring 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.
Silver Spring detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Silver Spring: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Silver Spring: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Silver Spring: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Silver Spring: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Silver Spring 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.