Best PlacesSouthport, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southport, 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.
Southport ranks 20,783rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Southport
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.
Southport's strengths and weaknesses
Where Southport ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of towns
Where Southport ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 27% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Southport
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southport home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,251, 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 Southport's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 Southport
Southport 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 Southport.
Who works in Southport, and how
Work in Southport centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Southport
Southport has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Southport and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Southport, month by month
Southport sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 47° | 39° |
| April | 73° | 64° | 56° |
| July | 89° | 82° | 76° |
| October | 77° | 68° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Southport
The nearest airport, Wilmington International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Southport
Schools across Southport average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southport ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Bolivia ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Virginia Williamson ElemB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Brunswick MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Brunswick County Early CollegeA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southport school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southport 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 Southport against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Southport
Is Southport a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southport ranks 20,783rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and good schools, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Southport expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $466,007. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $78,251 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Southport safe?
Southport is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
Compare Southport with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southport. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southport 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.
Southport detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southport: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southport: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southport: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southport: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southport 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.