Best PlacesTin City, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tin City, 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.
Tin City ranks 34,153rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tin City
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.
Tin City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tin City ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 79% of towns
- Cheap childcare$637 a month, better than 75% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 73% of towns
Where Tin City ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tin City
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tin City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,285, 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 Tin City's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tin City
Tin City'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 Tin City.
Who works in Tin City, and how
Work in Tin City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Tin City
The coast is about 49 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Tin City, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tin City, month by month
Tin City sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Tin City
The nearest airport, Albert J Ellis, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tin City
Schools across Tin City average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Penderlea ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Wallace ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Pender Early College HighA+ · 93% proficient
- Wallace-rose Hill HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tin City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tin City 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 Tin City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tin City
Is Tin City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tin City ranks 34,153rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tin City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $242,356. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $72,285 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Tin City safe?
Tin City is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $382 per resident a year.
Compare Tin City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tin City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tin City 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.
Tin City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tin City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tin City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tin City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tin City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tin City 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.