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 $1,290 median asking rent turns that into 11.0 percent gross, the best return the state's measurable cities offer. Volume and yield part ways: Fayetteville closes about 268 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks thirteenth on yield at 7.8 percent. Six cities on this list carry a confirmed-close median as well as an asking median. Fayetteville has the largest close sample, 666, 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 $244,000, well below the North Carolina statewide median of $360,000. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 99 North Carolina cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. A second table lists two 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 257 closings, $1,290 median asking rent across 136 listings, 11.0 percent gross. See the Kinston page for the property mix and the price band.

2. Spring Lake, 9.6 percent gross

Spring Lake is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 66 closes with a median of $1,850 beside a $1,600 asking median, a 16 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $199,000 median closed price across 102 closings, $1,600 median asking rent across 576 listings, 9.6 percent gross. Full detail is on the Spring Lake market page.

3. Goldsboro, 9.4 percent gross

Homes in Goldsboro closed at a median of $191,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,500, a gross yield of 9.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $122 per square foot. See the Goldsboro page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Eden, 8.7 percent gross

At $151,000 to buy and $1,100 a month to rent, Eden yields 8.7 percent gross on 208 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 $109 per square foot. See the Lumberton page for the property mix and the price band.

6. Hope Mills, 8.4 percent gross

Hope Mills's confirmed-close median, $1,725 on 64 closes, sits close to its $1,715 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 $246,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,715, a gross yield of 8.4 percent. The Hope Mills market page carries the monthly figures.

7. High Point, 8.0 percent gross

High Point ranks seventh on yield but only fifteenth on entry price: the $1,775 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in High Point closed at a median of $265,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,775, a gross yield of 8.0 percent. See the High Point page for the property mix and the price band.

8. Thomasville, 8.0 percent gross

The numbers: $245,000 median closed price across 246 closings, $1,635 median asking rent across 270 listings, 8.0 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $153 per square foot. The Thomasville market page carries the monthly figures.

9. Kernersville, 8.0 percent gross

Kernersville ranks ninth on yield but only seventeenth on entry price: the $1,950 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $294,250 median closed price across 242 closings, $1,950 median asking rent across 584 listings, 8.0 percent gross. See the Kernersville page for the property mix and the price band.

10. Kings Mountain, 7.9 percent gross

Homes in Kings Mountain closed at a median of $250,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,650, a gross yield of 7.9 percent. Houses there closed at about $168 per square foot. The Kings Mountain market page carries the monthly figures.

11. Mocksville, 7.9 percent gross

Only 70 rental listings sit behind Mocksville's $1,725 median; the yield is real but less settled than in cities with hundreds. The numbers: $262,500 median closed price across 132 closings, $1,725 median asking rent across 70 listings, 7.9 percent gross. Full detail is on the Mocksville market page.

12. Calabash, 7.9 percent gross

Rent is what puts Calabash twelfth here; on price alone it would sit sixteenth of 20. Homes in Calabash closed at a median of $289,500 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.

13. Fayetteville, 7.8 percent gross

Fayetteville also carries a confirmed-close median: 666 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. Lexington, 7.7 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Lexington far: it is tenth cheapest on this list and fourteenth on yield, with rent of $1,550 against a $243,000 median price. The numbers: $243,000 median closed price across 172 closings, $1,550 median asking rent across 456 listings, 7.7 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $143 per square foot. The Lexington market page carries the monthly figures.

15. Rocky Mount, 7.6 percent gross

Rocky Mount is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: seventh on price, fifteenth on yield, because a $205,680 home there rents for only $1,295. The numbers: $205,680 median closed price across 388 closings, $1,295 median asking rent across 691 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: 43 confirmed lease closes have a median of $1,970, 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 433 closings, $2,000 median asking rent across 325 listings, 7.5 percent gross. The Cameron market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Reidsville, 7.4 percent gross

Reidsville is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fifth on price, seventeenth on yield, because a $195,000 home there rents for only $1,205. Homes in Reidsville closed at a median of $195,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,205, a gross yield of 7.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $134 per square foot. Full detail is on the Reidsville market page.

18. Sanford, 7.4 percent gross

Sanford also carries a confirmed-close median: 36 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,912, 3 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: $299,990 median closed price across 343 closings, $1,850 median asking rent across 685 listings, 7.4 percent gross. See the Sanford page for the property mix and the price band.

19. Greenville, 7.4 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Greenville far: it is eighth cheapest on this list and nineteenth on yield, with rent of $1,400 against a $228,000 median price. Homes in Greenville closed at a median of $228,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,400, a gross yield of 7.4 percent. See the Greenville page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Garner, 7.3 percent gross

Garner is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 37 closes with a median of $1,945 beside a $2,110 asking median, a 8 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $345,000 median closed price across 313 closings, $2,110 median asking rent across 783 listings, 7.3 percent gross. The Garner 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 October 3, 2025: 99 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 96,220 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 October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 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.