Best PlacesTrust, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Trust, 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.
Trust ranks 41,356th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Trust
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.
Trust's strengths and weaknesses
Where Trust ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
Where Trust ranks low
- Short commute44.9 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$44,048 median, better than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Trust
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Trust home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $44,048, 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 Trust'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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Trust
Trust 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 Trust.
Who works in Trust, and how
Work in Trust centers on real estate and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 41%
- Work from home 57%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Trust
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Trust.
What the weather is like in Trust, month by month
Trust sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Trust
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Trust
Schools across Trust average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverbend ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Hot Springs ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waynesville MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Madison Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Haywood Early CollegeA+ · 92% proficient
- Madison Early College HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Trust school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Trust 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 Trust against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Trust
Is Trust a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Trust ranks 41,356th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, tree cover, and good schools, and lowest on long commutes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Trust expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,647. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $44,048 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Trust safe?
Trust is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $458 per resident a year.
Compare Trust with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Trust. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Trust 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.
Trust detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Trust: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Trust: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Trust: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Trust: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Trust 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.