Best PlacesWake Forest, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wake Forest, 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.
Wake Forest ranks 63rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wake Forest
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 Wake Forest
The parts of Wake Forest, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Bowling Green, Heritage North & Ammons Reservoir
Heritage South
Holding Village
North
Scores across Wake Forest run from about the 67th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wake Forest's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wake Forest ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 95% of cities
- Household income$142,349 median, better than 89% of cities
Where Wake Forest ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 21% of cities
- Short commute30.3 minutes each way, better than only 23% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wake Forest
A household needs to earn about $133,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wake Forest home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $142,349, 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 Wake Forest's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Wake Forest
Wake Forest'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 Wake Forest.
Who works in Wake Forest, and how
Work in Wake Forest centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Wake Forest
Wake Forest has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wake Forest and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wake Forest, month by month
Wake Forest sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 40° | 32° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Wake Forest
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 16 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 Wake Forest
Schools across Wake Forest average an A−, better than 88% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Endeavor Charter SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Envision Science AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Pleasant Union ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Heritage MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- Wakefield MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Rolesville MiddleA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Wake Stem Early College High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Wake Early College Of Health And ScienceA+ · 88% proficient
- North Wake College And Career AcademyA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wake Forest school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wake Forest 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 Wake Forest against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wake Forest suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of cities and 31% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wake Forest
Is Wake Forest a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wake Forest ranks 63rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, what local pay buys, and civic engagement, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wake Forest expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $512,866. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $142,349 median income, cost of living beats 97% of cities.
Is Wake Forest safe?
Yes, Wake Forest is safer than 79% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wake Forest?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 50 with lows near 32. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wake Forest?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bowling Green, Heritage North & Ammons Reservoir, Heritage South, and Holding Village. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wake Forest with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wake Forest. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wake Forest 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.
Wake Forest detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wake Forest: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wake Forest: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wake Forest: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wake Forest: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wake Forest 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.