Best PlacesTar River, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tar River, 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.
Tar River ranks 10,038th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tar River
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.
Tar River's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tar River ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Tar River ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Short commute31.3 minutes each way, better than only 27% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tar River
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tar River home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,805, 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 Tar River's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Tar River
Tar River runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Tar River.
Who works in Tar River, and how
Work in Tar River centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tar River
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tar River.
What the weather is like in Tar River, month by month
Tar River sees roughly 85 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° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Tar River
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 23 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 Tar River
Schools across Tar River average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wilton ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Mount Energy ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Tar River ElementaryC+ · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- G. C. Hawley MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- South Granville HighB · 50% proficient
- Granville Central HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tar River school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tar River 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 Tar River against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tar River
Is Tar River a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tar River ranks 10,038th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, state finances, and population health, and lowest on an overheated housing market and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tar River expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $298,261. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $88,805 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Tar River safe?
Yes, Tar River is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
Compare Tar River with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tar River. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tar River 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.
Tar River detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tar River: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tar River: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tar River: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tar River: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tar River 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.