Best PlacesYadkin County, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Yadkin County, 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.
Yadkin County ranks 1,252nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Yadkin County
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 Yadkin County
The parts of Yadkin County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
East Bend
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Yadkinville
It is noisier.
Boonville
Jonesville
Commutes are shorter and tree cover is thicker.
Scores across Yadkin County run from about the 9th to the 77th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Yadkin County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yadkin County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 87% of counties
- Cheap childcare$541 a month, better than 84% of counties
Where Yadkin County ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 6% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 14% of counties
- Short commute29.6 minutes each way, better than only 17% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 23% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 33% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Yadkin County
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yadkin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,604, 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 Yadkin County's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Yadkin County
Yadkin County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Yadkin County.
Who works in Yadkin County, and how
Work in Yadkin County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Yadkin County
Yadkin County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Yadkin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Yadkin County growing, and who is moving in?
Yadkin County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Winston Salem, NC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Yadkin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Yadkin County, month by month
Yadkin County sees roughly 84 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 Yadkin County
The nearest airport, Piedmont Triad International, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yadkin County
Schools across Yadkin County average a B+, better than 84% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Shoals ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Vienna ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Copeland ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elkin MiddleA · 65% proficient
- North Davie MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Pilot Mountain MiddleA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Yadkin Early CollegeA+ · 88% proficient
- Agriculture And Science Early CollegeA+ · 88% proficient
- Ronald W Reagan High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yadkin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yadkin County 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 Yadkin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Yadkin County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Yadkin County
Is Yadkin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yadkin County ranks 1,252nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, low disaster risk, 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 Yadkin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $192,838. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $65,604 median income, cost of living beats 42% of counties.
Is Yadkin County safe?
Yadkin County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Yadkin County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 29. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Yadkin County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are East Bend, Yadkinville, and Boonville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Yadkin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yadkin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yadkin County 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.
Yadkin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yadkin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yadkin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yadkin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yadkin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yadkin County 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.