Best PlacesWilkesboro, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wilkesboro, 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.
Wilkesboro ranks 18,828th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wilkesboro
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.
Wilkesboro's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wilkesboro ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 84% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Wilkesboro ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Household income$56,479 median, better than only 21% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 23% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wilkesboro
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wilkesboro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,479, 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 Wilkesboro's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Wilkesboro
Wilkesboro 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 Wilkesboro.
Who works in Wilkesboro, and how
Work in Wilkesboro centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wilkesboro
Wilkesboro has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wilkesboro and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wilkesboro, month by month
Wilkesboro sees roughly 87 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 Wilkesboro
The nearest airport, Concord-Padgett Regional, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wilkesboro
Schools across Wilkesboro average an A−, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Moravian Falls Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Mount Pleasant Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Millers Creek Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Wilkes Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- West Wilkes Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Central Wilkes Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilkes Early College High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wilkesboro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wilkesboro 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 Wilkesboro against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wilkesboro
Is Wilkesboro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wilkesboro ranks 18,828th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, state finances, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on an overheated housing market and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wilkesboro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,635. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $56,479 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Wilkesboro safe?
Wilkesboro is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $365 per resident a year.
Compare Wilkesboro with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wilkesboro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wilkesboro 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.
Wilkesboro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wilkesboro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wilkesboro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wilkesboro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wilkesboro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wilkesboro 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.