Best PlacesWalnut Cove, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Walnut Cove, 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.
Walnut Cove ranks 26,383rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Walnut Cove
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.
Walnut Cove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Walnut Cove ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 79% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 78% of towns
Where Walnut Cove ranks low
- Household income$53,838 median, better than only 17% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 18% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 26% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of towns
- Short commute31.4 minutes each way, better than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Walnut Cove
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Walnut Cove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,838, 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 Walnut Cove's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Walnut Cove
Walnut Cove 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 Walnut Cove.
Who works in Walnut Cove, and how
Work in Walnut Cove centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Walnut Cove
Walnut Cove has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Walnut Cove and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Walnut Cove, month by month
Walnut Cove sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Walnut Cove
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Walnut Cove
Schools across Walnut Cove average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mount Olive Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Pine Hall Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- London Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Piney Grove Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Chestnut Grove Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Southeastern Stokes Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Stokes Early College High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Walkertown HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Walnut Cove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Walnut Cove 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 Walnut Cove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Walnut Cove
Is Walnut Cove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Walnut Cove ranks 26,383rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on low incomes 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 Walnut Cove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $180,020. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $53,838 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Walnut Cove safe?
Walnut Cove is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $364 per resident a year.
Compare Walnut Cove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Walnut Cove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Walnut Cove 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.
Walnut Cove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Walnut Cove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Walnut Cove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Walnut Cove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Walnut Cove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Walnut Cove 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.