Best PlacesSouthern Pines, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southern Pines, 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.
Southern Pines ranks 8,807th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Southern Pines
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.
Southern Pines' strengths and weaknesses
Where Southern Pines ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
Where Southern Pines ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Southern Pines
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southern Pines home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,663, 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 Southern Pines' effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Southern Pines
Southern Pines's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Southern Pines.
Who works in Southern Pines, and how
Work in Southern Pines centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Southern Pines
Southern Pines has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Southern Pines and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Southern Pines, month by month
Southern Pines sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 42° | 30° |
| April | 77° | 63° | 49° |
| July | 93° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Southern Pines
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 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Southern Pines
Schools across Southern Pines average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pinehurst ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- West Pine ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Sandhills Farm Life ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Pine MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- New Century MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Southern MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Union Pines HighA− · 66% proficient
- Pinecrest HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southern Pines school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southern Pines 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 Southern Pines against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Southern Pines
Is Southern Pines a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southern Pines ranks 8,807th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and an educated workforce, 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 Southern Pines expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $426,477. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $83,663 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Southern Pines safe?
Southern Pines is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $472 per resident a year.
Compare Southern Pines with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southern Pines. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southern Pines 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.
Southern Pines detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southern Pines: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southern Pines: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southern Pines: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southern Pines: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southern Pines 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.