Living in Salisbury, NC
Small city in North Carolina
Salisbury is a small city in North Carolina, home to about 36,000 people, with 619,000 living within 31 mi. Day to day, there is some transit, though many people drive. Life moves at a relaxed pace, and homes are a mix of apartments and houses.
Is Salisbury a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Affordable housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $297k and rents for $1,570 a month
- Strong healthcare: 6 top-rated (4–5★) hospitals within 31 mi
- Low natural disaster risk: 4 federally declared disasters since 2000
- Easy flying: CLT is 40 mi away
👎 Cons
- Weaker public schools: test results well below the US average
- Fewer family amenities than most places
- Fewer outdoor escapes: no big hills or water close by
- Fewer graduates: 27% of adults have a bachelor's degree or higher
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Salisbury ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Salisbury: common questions
What is the cost of living in Salisbury?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $297k, and a 3-bedroom rents for about $1,570 a month including utilities. Overall living costs are close to the US average (index 97, where the US is 100).
What are taxes like in Salisbury?
North Carolina collects about $1,615 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 0.89% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Salisbury safe?
Violent crime is well above the national rate (1.9× in FBI 2019 data).
How are the schools in Salisbury?
Public schools in Salisbury test well below the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 16 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Salisbury?
Salisbury has cool winters: winter days average around 52°F and summer days around 87°F, with roughly 2″ of snow a year.
Does Salisbury get natural disasters?
Natural disaster risk is low, mainly from flooding, cold waves and tornadoes: 4 federally declared disasters have hit the county since 2000, and FEMA expects about 0.84 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Salisbury?
The nearest major airport is CLT, about 40 mi away.
How Salisbury scores
Each bar compares Salisbury with the other 1,990 places in Best Life Fit Me. A dot shows where it sits between two ends, such as major metro and small town; neither end is better. Coloured bars run from poor (red) to excellent (green).
Places like Salisbury
These places have the most similar overall profile across all 24 aspects.
The circle is each place's all-round score out of 100: the average of its 15 quality scores, from red (poor) to green (excellent).
Nearby
See all the best places to live in North Carolina.
Is Salisbury right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.