Best PlacesWards Corner, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wards Corner, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wards Corner ranks 27,625th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wards Corner
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.
Wards Corner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wards Corner ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 80% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 78% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 75% of towns
Where Wards Corner ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute34.1 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wards Corner
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wards Corner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,784, 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 Wards Corner's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wards Corner
Wards Corner 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 Wards Corner.
Who works in Wards Corner, and how
Work in Wards Corner centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Wards Corner
The coast is about 40 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Wards Corner, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wards Corner, month by month
Wards Corner sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 47° | 36° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Wards Corner
The nearest airport, Wilmington International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wards Corner
Schools across Wards Corner average a B, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Malpass Corner ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Pender MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Pender Early College HighA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wards Corner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wards Corner 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 Wards Corner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wards Corner
Is Wards Corner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wards Corner ranks 27,625th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and good schools, and lowest on disaster risk and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wards Corner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,599. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $74,784 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Wards Corner safe?
Yes, Wards Corner is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
Compare Wards Corner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wards Corner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wards Corner 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.
Wards Corner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wards Corner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wards Corner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wards Corner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wards Corner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wards Corner 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.