These Are The 10 Worst Greensboro Suburbs For 2018

Swipe left for slideshow. Article continues below.

Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Greensboro.

So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Greensboro ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Greensboro area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Greensboro proper, although Oak Ridge certainly tries.

Of course, not all suburbs of Greensboro are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones. So without further ado…

We examined the 17 biggest suburbs of Greensboro to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in North Carolina lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Greensboro in terms of quality of life.

Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Greensboro for 2018:

Read on to see how we determined the places around Greensboro that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.

Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in North Carolina check out the best places in North Carolina overall or the worst.

And remember, there are some good places to live around Greensboro too.

Editor’s Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it’s because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.

For more North Carolina reading, check out:

Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Greensboro for 2018

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data, this is the criteria we used:

High unemployment rate
Low median household incomes
Low population density (no things to do)
Low home values
A lot of high school drop outs
High poverty
High rate of uninsured families

FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Greensboro.

These Are The 10 Richest Cities In North Carolina

Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 5,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 17 suburbs to evaluate around Greensboro.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 17 in each category, where 1 was the “worst”.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.

And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the “Worst Suburb near Greensboro.” We’re lookin’ at you, Eden.

Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.

1. Eden

Source: Wikipedia User Mike Kalasnik f | CC BY-SA 2.0

Population: 15,434
Unemployment Rate: 13.8%
Median Home Price: $82,300
Median Income: $28,908
More on Eden: Data | Jobs

We’ll get the ball rolling with Eden, the absolute worst place to live around Greensboro according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Eden beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 1st worst in the Greensboro area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 1st worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Eden.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

2. Asheboro

Source: Wikipedia User Upstateherd | CC BY-SA 4.0

Population: 25,978
Unemployment Rate: 9.5%
Median Home Price: $111,400
Median Income: $34,100
More on Asheboro: Data | Jobs

Welcome to Asheboro. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 26.1 miles to Greensboro. Income levels here are the 3rd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $34,100 a year, which doesn’t go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

3. Graham

Source: Wikipedia User Dantripphoto | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 14,506
Unemployment Rate: 7.4%
Median Home Price: $128,600
Median Income: $32,020
More on Graham: Data | Jobs

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Greensboro suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Graham on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other Greensboro suburbs.

But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.

4. Reidsville

Source: Wikipedia User Drumzandspace20 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 14,107
Unemployment Rate: 9.8%
Median Home Price: $102,200
Median Income: $35,599
More on Reidsville: Data | Jobs

If you live in Reidsville, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 4th lowest Greensboro suburb when it comes to residents making money.

Not only that, but this is the 4th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Greensboro. Remember, we looked at 17 cities for this study.

Reidsville is about 18.9 miles to downtown.

5. Thomasville

Source: Wikipedia User AmaryllisGarden | CC BY-SA 4.0

Population: 27,178
Unemployment Rate: 13.2%
Median Home Price: $109,900
Median Income: $36,796
More on Thomasville: Data | Jobs

Thomasville has the distinction of being a Greensboro suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Thomasville has the 3rd lowest home values in the metro Greensboro area, where the median price is $109,900. To put that into perspective, in Oak Ridge, the median income is $109,509, which is the best in the area.

Thomasville has an unemployment rate of 13.2% which ranks 2nd worst.

6. Winston-Salem

Source: Wikipedia User tweber1 | CC BY-SA 2.0

Population: 238,474
Unemployment Rate: 9.9%
Median Home Price: $142,400
Median Income: $40,898
More on Winston-Salem: Data | Jobs

Winston-Salem has 238,474 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 24.3%.

7. Burlington

Source: Wikipedia User Mike Kalasnik f | CC BY-SA 2.0

Population: 52,570
Unemployment Rate: 8.0%
Median Home Price: $124,400
Median Income: $37,862
More on Burlington: Data | Jobs

Ah, Burlington. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Greensboro.

It’s the place with the 7th most out of work residents in the Greensboro metro area (8.0%).

8. High Point

Source: Public domain

Population: 108,982
Unemployment Rate: 9.5%
Median Home Price: $142,700
Median Income: $43,322
More on High Point: Data | Jobs

High Point is a city about 11.8 miles from Greensboro, but Greensboro probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. High Point has the 6th most uninsured people, 8th worst incomes, and has the 5th highest unemployment rate (9.5%) in the entire Greensboro metro area.

Homes only cost $142,700 for a reason. That’s cheap for Greensboro standards.

9. Archdale

Population: 11,483
Unemployment Rate: 6.3%
Median Home Price: $134,600
Median Income: $52,696
More on Archdale: Data | Jobs

If you absolutely have to live near Greensboro, then Archdale might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Greensboro suburb.

About 6.3% of residents are out of work.

10. Trinity

Population: 6,651
Unemployment Rate: 4.4%
Median Home Price: $131,200
Median Income: $49,208
More on Trinity: Data | Jobs

Rounding out the ten worst Greensboro suburbs to call home is Trinity.

Located 18.3 miles outside the city, Trinitys is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 14th highest unemployment rate (4.4%), and poverty is far above the area average.

The areas around Greensboro where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2018

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Greensboro with Eden casting itself ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Greensboro aren’t all bad. Oak Ridge takes the cake as the best place to live around Greensboro.