Best PlacesWinston-Salem, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Winston-Salem 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 Warren LeMay from Cullowhee, NC, United States, CC0, via commons
Winston-Salem ranks 193rd 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 state finances and good schools. The weaker spots are walkability, biking, and cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in the Winston-Salem 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 Winston-Salem
The towns and districts of the Winston-Salem 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.
Clemmons & Lewisville
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Mocksville, Advance & Linwood
Crime runs lower and it is quieter.
King, Pfafftown & Yadkinville
More residents vote and tree cover is thicker.
Kernersville
Fewer homes sit empty.
Thomasville
Schools score lower and fewer households have young kids.
Walkertown, Walnut Cove & Belews Creek
Commutes are longer.
Lexington
Advertised internet is slower.
Downtown Winston-Salem
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Rural Hall & Germanton
Prices have run up more and health care is harder to reach.
Winston-Salem shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Winston-Salem's strengths and weaknesses
Winston-Salem lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State finances, good schools, and cheap car insurance carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Walkability, biking, and cell coverage hold the score down. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Winston-Salem ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of metro areas
- School gradeB, better than 86% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of metro areas
Where Winston-Salem ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than only 27% of metro areas
- Household income$72,343 median, better than only 29% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 29% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Winston-Salem
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Winston-Salem home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,343, 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 Winston-Salem's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Winston-Salem.
Who works in Winston-Salem, and how
Work in Winston-Salem centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Winston-Salem and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Winston-Salem growing, and who is moving in?
Winston-Salem has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Greensboro, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Winston-Salem go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Winston-Salem, month by month
Winston-Salem sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 40° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Winston-Salem
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Winston-Salem
Schools across Winston-Salem average a B, better than 86% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Sherwood Forest ElementaryA+ · 76% proficient
- Shady Grove ElementaryA+ · 76% proficient
- Southwest ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
Top middle schools
- Meadowlark MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Hanes Magnet SchoolA · 66% proficient
- William Ellis MiddleA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College Of Forsyth CoA+ · 91% proficient
- Surry Early CollegeA+ · 90% proficient
- Yadkin Early CollegeA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Winston-Salem school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Winston-Salem 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 Winston-Salem against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Winston-Salem suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Winston-Salem
Is Winston-Salem a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Winston-Salem ranks 193rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on walkability and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Winston-Salem expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $248,872. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $72,343 median income, cost of living beats 42% of metro areas.
Is Winston-Salem safe?
Winston-Salem is safer than 32% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $431 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Winston-Salem?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 52 with lows near 29. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Winston-Salem?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Clemmons & Lewisville, Mocksville, Advance & Linwood, and King, Pfafftown & Yadkinville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Winston-Salem good for families?
Schools beat 86% of metro areas, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $791 a month.
Is Winston-Salem good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 42% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 71% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Winston-Salem with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Winston-Salem. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Winston-Salem 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.
Winston-Salem detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Winston-Salem: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Winston-Salem: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Winston-Salem: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Winston-Salem: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Winston-Salem 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.