Best PlacesWilmington, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Wilmington metro, 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.
Photo by Shenandoah National Park from Virginia, via commons
Wilmington ranks 180th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on good schools and a strong job market. The weaker spots are disaster risk, an overheated housing market, and empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in the Wilmington metro
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 Wilmington
The towns and districts of the Wilmington metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Downtown Wilmington
Fewer homes sit empty, biking is better, and more adults hold degrees.
Hampstead, Murraysville & Kings Grant
More households have young kids and incomes run higher.
Kure Beach
Tree cover is thinner and homes cost more.
Leland, Winnabow & Boiling Spring Lakes
It is noisier.
Shallotte, Supply & Ocean Isle Beach
Health care is easier to reach, though heat risk is higher.
Southport
More residents vote, though prices have run up more.
Burgaw & Willard
Local pay stretches less far and schools score lower.
Wilmington shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Wilmington's strengths and weaknesses
Wilmington lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Good schools is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. A strong job market and health care access follow.
The one real hole is disaster risk, near the bottom of the country. An overheated housing market and empty homes also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Wilmington ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 99% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
Where Wilmington ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Wilmington
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wilmington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,249, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Wilmington's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Wilmington
Wilmington 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 Wilmington.
Who works in Wilmington, and how
Work in Wilmington centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wilmington
Wilmington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wilmington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wilmington growing, and who is moving in?
Wilmington has grown about 23% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Charlotte, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wilmington go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wilmington, month by month
Wilmington sees roughly 70 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 Wilmington
The nearest airport, Wilmington International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wilmington
Schools across Wilmington average an A−, better than 99% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Ogden ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
- Masonboro ElementaryA+ · 79% proficient
- Dr Hubert Eaton Sr ElemA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Topsail MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- M C S Noble MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Charles P Murray MiddleA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Brunswick County Early CollegeA+ · 98% proficient
- Isaac M Bear Early College High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Pender Early College HighA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wilmington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wilmington 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 Wilmington against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Wilmington suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of metro areas and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wilmington
Is Wilmington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wilmington ranks 180th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on good schools, a strong job market, and health care access, 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 Wilmington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $383,092. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $84,249 median income, cost of living beats 77% of metro areas.
Is Wilmington safe?
Wilmington is safer than 55% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wilmington?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 36. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wilmington?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Wilmington, Hampstead, Murraysville & Kings Grant, and Kure Beach. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Wilmington good for families?
Schools beat 99% of metro areas, crime safety beats 55%, and childcare runs $828 a month.
Is Wilmington good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 58% of metro areas. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Wilmington with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wilmington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wilmington 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.
Wilmington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wilmington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wilmington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wilmington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wilmington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wilmington 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.