Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.
Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in North Carolina with best potential return on investment.
After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.
To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in North Carolina that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.
In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in North Carolina at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Whispering Pines.
2.6% population growth · -0.3% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
5.6% population growth · -0.3% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
3.6% population growth · 0.3% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.4% population growth · 3.2% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
1.5% population growth · 0.8% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.9% population growth · -0.1% home price growth
Data | Movers
1.4% population growth · 3.8% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
3.0% population growth · 3.2% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
2.3% population growth · 3.2% home price growth
Ayden is a town in Pitt County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,932 at the 2010 Census. The town is a part of the Greenville Metropolitan Area of North Carolina’s Inner Banks region. The town holds an annual Collard Festival, is home to many local businesses, and currently resides as one of North Carolina’s smallest towns.
Data | Movers
1.4% population growth · -6.8% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is North Carolina’s statewide median.
North Carolina statewide median: $336,408
On the map
Where North Carolina’s best buys are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in North Carolina for 2026?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for over a decade. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.
So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in North Carolina. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in North Carolina with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.
To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2020-2024 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:
- Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
- Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
- Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)
We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for North Carolina, with these caveats: home prices had to be within 20% of the state average, home prices increased in the last year, and the city had above 5,000 people.
So of the 736 cities and towns in North Carolina, only 142 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 142 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.
Turns out that Whispering Pines is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Tar Heel State.
The full plate
Best Places To Buy A Home In North Carolina
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Home Price | Population Change | Home Price Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whispering Pines | 5,211 | $529,288 | 2.6% | -0.3% |
| 2 | Locust | 5,840 | $384,686 | 5.6% | -0.3% |
| 3 | Carolina Shores | 5,017 | $319,366 | 3.6% | 0.3% |
| 4 | Cramerton | 5,450 | $305,443 | 1.4% | 3.2% |
| 5 | Dallas | 6,104 | $273,282 | 1.5% | 0.8% |
| 6 | Long View | 5,011 | $183,167 | 0.9% | -0.1% |
| 7 | Pleasant Garden | 5,060 | $315,482 | 1.4% | 3.8% |
| 8 | Archer Lodge | 5,186 | $377,862 | 3.0% | 3.2% |
| 9 | Ayden | 5,150 | $226,359 | 2.3% | 3.2% |
| 10 | Walke | 5,873 | $275,857 | 1.4% | -6.8% |
| 11 | Sawmills | 5,042 | $230,414 | 0.3% | 6.5% |
| 12 | Mocksville | 6,068 | $280,268 | 1.1% | 4.7% |
| 13 | Williamston | 5,112 | $131,111 | -0.9% | 7.3% |
| 14 | Stokesdale | 6,004 | $386,451 | 1.0% | 1.9% |
| 15 | Nashville | 5,729 | $257,559 | 1.0% | 2.6% |
| 16 | Bessemer City | 5,580 | $235,411 | 1.3% | 1.2% |
| 17 | Zebulon | 8,711 | $341,721 | 9.4% | -0.7% |
| 18 | Angier | 6,241 | $333,903 | 8.6% | -0.3% |
| 19 | St. James | 7,072 | $694,377 | 2.5% | -0.6% |
| 20 | Cherryville | 6,226 | $249,357 | 1.2% | 2.0% |
| 21 | Boiling Spring Lakes | 6,347 | $315,223 | 2.3% | 0.4% |
| 22 | Carolina Beach | 6,745 | $606,035 | 1.2% | 1.1% |
| 23 | Hamlet | 5,961 | $129,886 | -0.7% | 3.0% |
| 24 | Trinity | 7,111 | $287,548 | 0.6% | 5.1% |
| 25 | Marvin | 6,692 | $1,251,047 | 2.3% | 1.9% |
| 26 | Woodfin | 8,048 | $427,001 | 1.1% | 1.9% |
| 27 | Selma | 6,817 | $275,820 | 3.1% | 2.5% |
| 28 | Oak Ridge | 7,744 | $599,278 | 1.1% | 3.8% |
| 29 | King | 7,408 | $276,086 | 0.9% | 3.1% |
| 30 | Unionville | 6,954 | $419,701 | 1.9% | 1.7% |
| 31 | Forest City | 7,363 | $193,559 | -0.1% | 6.0% |
| 32 | Hillsborough | 9,724 | $472,962 | 0.7% | -0.6% |
| 33 | Gibsonville | 9,467 | $307,075 | 1.9% | 2.7% |
| 34 | Kill Devil Hills | 7,761 | $521,722 | 0.4% | 0.8% |
| 35 | Mills River | 7,281 | $530,766 | 0.9% | -2.4% |
| 36 | Butner | 8,065 | $273,631 | 0.9% | 2.6% |
| 37 | Brevard | 7,897 | $464,518 | 1.3% | -0.6% |
| 38 | Marion | 7,579 | $244,493 | -0.2% | 1.3% |
| 39 | Aberdeen | 9,228 | $352,796 | 2.9% | 2.0% |
| 40 | Wendell | 13,064 | $369,603 | 12.8% | -1.2% |
| 41 | Rolesville | 10,766 | $497,996 | 5.5% | -1.8% |
| 42 | Oak Island | 9,030 | $568,672 | 1.6% | 0.7% |
| 43 | Siler City | 7,995 | $251,598 | 1.1% | 3.0% |
| 44 | Black Mountain | 8,513 | $463,739 | 0.6% | -1.0% |
| 45 | Fletcher | 8,098 | $446,279 | 0.9% | -0.4% |
| 46 | Roxboro | 8,182 | $220,111 | 0.5% | 3.7% |
| 47 | Clinton | 8,304 | $154,113 | -0.4% | 4.1% |
| 48 | Conover | 8,580 | $277,412 | 1.0% | 2.2% |
| 49 | Rockingham | 8,967 | $134,002 | -1.4% | 3.1% |
| 50 | Oxford | 8,914 | $255,873 | 0.2% | 2.1% |
| 51 | Pineville | 11,055 | $403,663 | 2.6% | 0.8% |
| 52 | Wesley Chapel | 9,090 | $659,096 | 1.9% | 2.1% |
| 53 | Morehead City | 9,806 | $410,236 | 1.1% | 0.5% |
| 54 | Washington | 9,726 | $242,528 | -0.3% | -0.9% |
| 55 | Dunn | 8,559 | $227,476 | 0.6% | 4.5% |
| 56 | Winterville | 10,725 | $278,291 | 1.0% | 0.4% |
| 57 | Waynesville | 10,502 | $355,352 | 0.9% | -2.8% |
| 58 | Mount Airy | 10,633 | $210,209 | 0.0% | 2.3% |
| 59 | Tarboro | 10,770 | $152,776 | 0.6% | -3.1% |
| 60 | Kings Mountain | 12,039 | $238,720 | 4.9% | 1.3% |
| 61 | Weddington | 13,805 | $1,074,644 | 2.5% | 1.8% |
| 62 | Lincolnton | 11,783 | $296,022 | 2.4% | 1.7% |
| 63 | Summerfield | 11,116 | $519,610 | 0.8% | 4.8% |
| 64 | Archdale | 12,087 | $248,494 | 0.8% | 3.1% |
| 65 | Elon | 11,032 | $350,880 | -2.6% | 1.6% |
| 66 | Spring Lake | 11,573 | $261,167 | -0.3% | 4.5% |
| 67 | Belmont | 15,546 | $432,565 | 2.7% | 2.1% |
| 68 | Smithfield | 12,116 | $293,391 | 2.7% | 1.4% |
| 69 | Davidson | 15,660 | $655,968 | 5.4% | 0.2% |
| 70 | Newton | 13,333 | $256,468 | 0.8% | 2.3% |
| 71 | Reidsville | 14,585 | $210,647 | 0.3% | 5.0% |
| 72 | Hendersonville | 15,408 | $405,676 | 1.0% | -0.6% |
| 73 | Lewisville | 13,828 | $404,564 | 1.3% | 4.6% |
| 74 | Southern Pines | 16,420 | $456,116 | 2.3% | -0.1% |
| 75 | Roanoke Rapids | 14,856 | $121,329 | -1.1% | 3.9% |
| 76 | Eden | 15,356 | $149,286 | 0.0% | 3.3% |
| 77 | Laurinburg | 15,087 | $143,608 | 0.1% | 2.0% |
| 78 | Henderson | 14,885 | $179,610 | -0.2% | -2.1% |
| 79 | Graham | 18,048 | $292,521 | 2.9% | 0.4% |
| 80 | Mebane | 19,538 | $353,221 | 3.4% | -0.2% |
| 81 | Stallings | 16,886 | $461,633 | 2.4% | -1.6% |
| 82 | Mount Holly | 18,208 | $360,773 | 1.6% | 0.3% |
| 83 | Hope Mills | 17,939 | $263,454 | 0.7% | 4.2% |
| 84 | Harrisburg | 19,633 | $494,884 | 2.2% | 0.9% |
| 85 | Albemarle | 16,762 | $261,947 | 1.4% | 3.0% |
| 86 | Waxhaw | 22,275 | $628,812 | 3.3% | 1.5% |
| 87 | Pinehurst | 18,256 | $535,650 | 1.5% | 0.7% |
| 88 | Morganton | 17,646 | $261,445 | 0.6% | 2.2% |
| 89 | Knightdale | 20,214 | $370,204 | 3.5% | 0.1% |
| 90 | Elizabeth City | 18,871 | $264,970 | 0.7% | 1.6% |
| 91 | Lenoir | 18,299 | $215,174 | 0.1% | 2.9% |
| 92 | Lexington | 19,690 | $271,913 | -0.0% | 3.8% |
| 93 | Boone | 20,032 | $483,789 | 2.5% | 0.2% |
| 94 | Havelock | 17,691 | $233,896 | 7.4% | 1.5% |
| 95 | Shelby | 22,100 | $209,227 | 1.1% | 0.5% |
| 96 | Kinston | 19,505 | $148,090 | -0.4% | 7.4% |
| 97 | Clemmons | 21,871 | $387,814 | 1.4% | 2.4% |
| 98 | Lumberton | 18,859 | $149,733 | -1.9% | 3.1% |
| 99 | Carrboro | 21,204 | $429,675 | 0.2% | -2.2% |
| 100 | Leland | 29,607 | $376,599 | 12.5% | 0.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 142 North Carolina cities cleared the filters.
Summary
Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In North Carolina for 2026
There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in North Carolina. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.
In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 736 places in the state.
The best cities to buy a house in North Carolina are Whispering Pines, Locust, Carolina Shores, Cramerton, Dallas, Long View, Pleasant Garden, Archer Lodge, Ayden, and Walke.
So if we could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.
