Best PlacesWillard, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willard, 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.
Willard ranks 37,707th 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 Willard
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.
Willard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willard ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 80% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 79% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 67% of towns
Where Willard ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.5 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willard
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,514, 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 Willard's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Willard
Willard 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 Willard.
Who works in Willard, and how
Work in Willard 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 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Willard
The coast is about 43 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Willard, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willard, month by month
Willard sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Willard
The nearest airport, Albert J Ellis, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Willard
Schools across Willard average a B, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Penderlea ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- C.f. Pope ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Union IntermediateC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Pender MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Burgaw MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Pender Early College HighA+ · 93% proficient
- Union HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Wallace-rose Hill HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willard 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 Willard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Willard
Is Willard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willard ranks 37,707th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Willard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $188,037. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $64,514 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Willard safe?
Willard is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $423 per resident a year.
Compare Willard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willard 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.
Willard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willard 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.