Best PlacesWilkes County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wilkes County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wilkes County ranks 1,561st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wilkes 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 Wilkes County
The parts of Wilkes 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.
Wilkesboro
More adults hold degrees, commutes are shorter, and local pay stretches further.
Hays
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
North Wilkesboro
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Millers Creek & Purlear
Incomes run lower.
Moravian Falls & Boomer
Prices have run up less and it is quieter.
Elkin
Homes cost less.
Scores across Wilkes County run from about the 14th to the 82nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wilkes County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wilkes County ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 97% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 90% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of counties
Where Wilkes County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 13% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 13% of counties
- Household income$53,460 median, better than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wilkes County
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wilkes County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,460, 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 Wilkes County's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wilkes County
Wilkes County 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 Wilkes County.
Who works in Wilkes County, and how
Work in Wilkes County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wilkes County
Wilkes County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wilkes County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wilkes County growing, and who is moving in?
Wilkes County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Charlotte, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wilkes County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wilkes County, month by month
Wilkes County sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Wilkes County
The nearest airport, Concord-Padgett Regional, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wilkes County
Schools across Wilkes County average an A, better than 97% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Moravian Falls Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Mount Pleasant Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- C B Eller Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Wilkes Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Ashe County MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Central MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilkes Early College High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Surry Early CollegeA+ · 90% proficient
- Alleghany HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wilkes County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wilkes 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 Wilkes County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wilkes County suits
Common questions about living in Wilkes County
Is Wilkes County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wilkes County ranks 1,561st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, tree cover, and low disaster risk, and lowest on cell coverage 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 Wilkes County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,345. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $53,460 median income, cost of living beats 12% of counties.
Is Wilkes County safe?
Wilkes County is safer than 54% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $361 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wilkes County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 29. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 49% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wilkes County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wilkesboro, Hays, and North Wilkesboro. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wilkes County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wilkes County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wilkes 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.
Wilkes County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wilkes County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wilkes County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wilkes County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wilkes County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wilkes 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.