Best Places to Buy Rental Property in North Carolina (2026)

Start with Kinston. It is the lowest entry price on this list, $141,000 at the median, and its $1,295 median asking rent turns that into 11.0 percent gross, the best return the state's measurable cities offer. Volume and yield part ways: Greensboro closes about 346 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks seventeenth on yield at 7.3 percent. Five cities on this list carry a confirmed-close median as well as an asking median. Fayetteville has the largest close sample, 755, with a median of $1,400, 6 percent below the $1,495 asking median; the samples are separate, so this is not evidence that the same homes leased above or below their advertised rent. The median city on this list closed at $250,000, well below the North Carolina statewide median of $360,000. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 98 North Carolina cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. A second table lists three cities with enough closings to price but too few rental listings to rank.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Kinston, 11.0 percent gross

The numbers: $141,000 median closed price across 271 closings, $1,295 median asking rent across 135 listings, 11.0 percent gross. See the Kinston page for the property mix and the price band.

2. Spring Lake, 10.0 percent gross

Spring Lake is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 75 closes with a median of $1,850 beside a $1,650 asking median, a 12 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $198,250 median closed price across 102 closings, $1,650 median asking rent across 535 listings, 10.0 percent gross. Full detail is on the Spring Lake market page.

3. Goldsboro, 9.1 percent gross

Homes in Goldsboro closed at a median of $198,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,500, a gross yield of 9.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $123 per square foot. See the Goldsboro page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Eden, 8.7 percent gross

Only 94 rental listings sit behind Eden's $1,100 median; the yield is real but less settled than in cities with hundreds. At $152,000 to buy and $1,100 a month to rent, Eden yields 8.7 percent gross on 205 tracked closings. See the Eden page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Lumberton, 8.5 percent gross

Homes in Lumberton closed at a median of $170,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,200, a gross yield of 8.5 percent. Houses there closed at about $110 per square foot. See the Lumberton page for the property mix and the price band.

6. Hope Mills, 8.2 percent gross

Hope Mills's confirmed-close median, $1,750 on 73 closes, sits close to its $1,700 asking median; the samples are separate, so read it as agreement between two medians rather than a validated yield. Homes in Hope Mills closed at a median of $250,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,700, a gross yield of 8.2 percent. The Hope Mills market page carries the monthly figures.

7. High Point, 8.1 percent gross

High Point ranks seventh on yield but only fifteenth on entry price: the $1,799 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in High Point closed at a median of $266,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,799, a gross yield of 8.1 percent. See the High Point page for the property mix and the price band.

8. Kernersville, 8.1 percent gross

Kernersville ranks eighth on yield but only seventeenth on entry price: the $1,950 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $289,000 median closed price across 250 closings, $1,950 median asking rent across 537 listings, 8.1 percent gross. See the Kernersville page for the property mix and the price band.

9. Mocksville, 8.0 percent gross

Mocksville ranks ninth on yield but only thirteenth on entry price: the $1,725 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $257,500 median closed price across 131 closings, $1,725 median asking rent across 69 listings, 8.0 percent gross. Full detail is on the Mocksville market page.

10. Calabash, 7.9 percent gross

Rent is what puts Calabash tenth here; on price alone it would sit eighteenth of 20. Homes in Calabash closed at a median of $290,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,900, a gross yield of 7.9 percent. Houses there closed at about $192 per square foot. See the Calabash page for the property mix and the price band.

11. Kings Mountain, 7.8 percent gross

Homes in Kings Mountain closed at a median of $259,998 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,700, a gross yield of 7.8 percent. Houses there closed at about $167 per square foot. The Kings Mountain market page carries the monthly figures.

12. Thomasville, 7.8 percent gross

The numbers: $250,000 median closed price across 239 closings, $1,632 median asking rent across 246 listings, 7.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $154 per square foot. The Thomasville market page carries the monthly figures.

13. Fayetteville, 7.8 percent gross

Fayetteville also carries a confirmed-close median: 755 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,400, 6 percent below the $1,495 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. Homes in Fayetteville closed at a median of $229,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,495, a gross yield of 7.8 percent. Full detail is on the Fayetteville market page.

14. Reidsville, 7.6 percent gross

Reidsville is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fourth on price, fourteenth on yield, because a $189,900 home there rents for only $1,205. Homes in Reidsville closed at a median of $189,900 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,205, a gross yield of 7.6 percent. Houses there closed at about $131 per square foot. Full detail is on the Reidsville market page.

15. Rocky Mount, 7.6 percent gross

Rocky Mount is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: seventh on price, fifteenth on yield, because a $205,440 home there rents for only $1,295. The numbers: $205,440 median closed price across 387 closings, $1,295 median asking rent across 662 listings, 7.6 percent gross. Full detail is on the Rocky Mount market page.

16. Cameron, 7.5 percent gross

In Cameron the two samples agree: 44 confirmed lease closes have a median of $1,960, within a few percent of the $2,000 asking median, though the samples are separate rather than paired. The numbers: $320,000 median closed price across 454 closings, $2,000 median asking rent across 311 listings, 7.5 percent gross. The Cameron market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Greensboro, 7.3 percent gross

The numbers: $270,000 median closed price across 2,074 closings, $1,650 median asking rent across 4,245 listings, 7.3 percent gross. Full detail is on the Greensboro market page.

18. Sanford, 7.3 percent gross

Sanford also carries a confirmed-close median: 46 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,985, 7 percent above the $1,850 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. The numbers: $303,270 median closed price across 372 closings, $1,850 median asking rent across 641 listings, 7.3 percent gross. See the Sanford page for the property mix and the price band.

19. Greenville, 7.3 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Greenville far: it is ninth cheapest on this list and nineteenth on yield, with rent of $1,400 against a $230,000 median price. Homes in Greenville closed at a median of $230,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,400, a gross yield of 7.3 percent. See the Greenville page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Lexington, 7.3 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Lexington far: it is twelfth cheapest on this list and twentieth on yield, with rent of $1,550 against a $255,000 median price. The numbers: $255,000 median closed price across 166 closings, $1,550 median asking rent across 408 listings, 7.3 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $144 per square foot. The Lexington market page carries the monthly figures.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

Resideline can price these cities but cannot yet rank them on rent: each has 100 or more closings and fewer than 50 rental listings in the window.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every North Carolina city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since September 10, 2025: 98 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $360,000 across 99,529 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More North Carolina rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in North Carolina ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the North Carolina cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The North Carolina housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest North Carolina markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.