Best PlacesUnion County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Union County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Union County ranks 41st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $118,812, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are long commutes, an overheated housing market, and walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Union County
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.
The best areas in Union County
The parts of Union County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Weddington, Marvin & Wesley Chapel
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Matthews
Crime runs lower, though homes cost more.
Waxhaw
More residents vote and tree cover is thicker.
Indian Trail & Stallings
More households have young kids, though it is noisier.
Unionville & Charlotte
Prices have run up less.
Monroe
Schools score lower.
Wingate & Marshville
Health care is harder to reach and more homes sit empty.
Union County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 9% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Union County's strengths and weaknesses
Union County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Good schools and high incomes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Long commutes, an overheated housing market, and walkability hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Union County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 98% of counties
- Household income$118,812 median, better than 97% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 96% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of counties
Where Union County ranks low
- Short commute29.8 minutes each way, better than only 17% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 23% of counties
- Cheap childcare$915 a month, better than only 26% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 73 pleasant days a year, better than only 27% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Union County
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Union County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $118,812, 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 Union County's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Union County
Union County'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 Union County.
Who works in Union County, and how
Work in Union County centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Union County
Union County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Union County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Union County growing, and who is moving in?
Union County has grown about 21% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Charlotte, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Union County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Union County, month by month
Union County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Union County
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 23 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 Union County
Schools across Union County average an A−, better than 98% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Rea View ElementaryA+ · 91% proficient
- Weddington ElementaryA+ · 91% proficient
- Marvin ElementaryA+ · 86% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marvin Ridge MiddleA+ · 89% proficient
- Weddington MiddleA+ · 88% proficient
- Cuthbertson MiddleA+ · 82% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Academy Of Technology And ArtsA+ · 95% proficient
- Marvin Ridge HighA+ · 94% proficient
- Union County Early CollegeA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Union County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Union County 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 Union County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Union County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Union County
Is Union County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Union County ranks 41st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, good schools, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes 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 Union County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $465,729. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $118,812 median income, cost of living beats 99% of counties.
Is Union County safe?
Yes, Union County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Union County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 32. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Union County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Weddington, Marvin & Wesley Chapel, Matthews, and Waxhaw. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Union County good for families?
Schools beat 98% of counties, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $915 a month.
Is Union County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 68% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Union County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Union County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Union County 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.
Union County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Union County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Union County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Union County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Union County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Union County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.