Best PlacesWilsons Mills, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wilsons Mills, 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.
Wilsons Mills ranks 7,425th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wilsons Mills
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.
Wilsons Mills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Wilsons Mills ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 80% of towns
Where Wilsons Mills ranks low
- Short commute32.0 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 32% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 74 pleasant days a year, better than only 34% of towns
- Cheap childcare$890 a month, better than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wilsons Mills
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wilsons Mills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $83,947; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Wilsons Mills' effective rate of 0.67%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wilsons Mills
Wilsons Mills runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wilsons Mills.
Who works in Wilsons Mills, and how
Work in Wilsons Mills centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Wilsons Mills
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wilsons Mills.
What the weather is like in Wilsons Mills, month by month
Wilsons Mills sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Wilsons Mills
Raleigh-Durham International sits about 31 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.7 million passengers in 2025, with 128 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Wilsons Mills
Schools across Wilsons Mills average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- River Dell ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- Powhatan ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Wilson's Mills ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverwood MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Archer Lodge MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Smithfield MiddleC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Johnston Co Early College AcademyA+ · 85% proficient
- Corinth Holders HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wilsons Mills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wilsons Mills 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 Wilsons Mills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wilsons Mills
Is Wilsons Mills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wilsons Mills ranks 7,425th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, state finances, and population health, and lowest on long commutes 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 Wilsons Mills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $329,285. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $83,947 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Wilsons Mills safe?
Yes, Wilsons Mills is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $254 per resident a year.
Compare Wilsons Mills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wilsons Mills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wilsons Mills 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.
Wilsons Mills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wilsons Mills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wilsons Mills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wilsons Mills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wilsons Mills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wilsons Mills 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.