Best PlacesWestminster, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westminster, 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.
Westminster ranks 24,903rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Westminster
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.
Westminster's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westminster ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
Where Westminster ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 13% of towns
- Household income$53,799 median, better than only 17% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westminster
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westminster home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,799, 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 Westminster's effective rate of 0.54%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Westminster
Westminster 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 Westminster.
Who works in Westminster, and how
Work in Westminster centers on professional & technical and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 36%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Westminster
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Westminster.
What the weather is like in Westminster, month by month
Westminster sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 40° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Westminster
The nearest airport, Asheville Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around Westminster
Schools across Westminster average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mt. Vernon-ruth Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- R-s Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Rutherford Early College High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westminster school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westminster 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 Westminster against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westminster
Is Westminster a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westminster ranks 24,903rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and quiet, and lowest on internet speeds and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westminster expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,275. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $53,799 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Westminster safe?
Westminster is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $340 per resident a year.
Compare Westminster with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westminster. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westminster 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.
Westminster detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westminster: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westminster: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westminster: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westminster: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westminster 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.