Best PlacesStartown, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Startown, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Startown ranks 15,401st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Startown
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.
Startown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Startown ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Startown ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Startown
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Startown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,051, 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 Startown's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Startown
Startown's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Startown.
Who works in Startown, and how
Work in Startown centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Startown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Startown.
What the weather is like in Startown, month by month
Startown sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 40° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Startown
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 34 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Startown
Schools across Startown average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Startown ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Blackburn ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Maiden ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jacobs Fork MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Maiden Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Challenger Early College HighA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Startown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Startown 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 Startown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Startown
Is Startown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Startown ranks 15,401st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Startown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $269,200. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $81,051 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Startown safe?
Startown is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $476 per resident a year.
Compare Startown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Startown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Startown 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.
Startown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Startown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Startown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Startown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Startown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Startown 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.