Best Places77043, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 77043, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
77043 ranks 12,321st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 77043
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
77043's strengths and weaknesses
Where 77043 ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of zip codes
- TransitBetter than 94% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 91% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of zip codes
Where 77043 ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 9% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 77043
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 77043 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,852, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 77043's effective rate of 1.34%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 77043
77043 runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 77043.
Who works in 77043, and how
Work in 77043 centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in 77043
The coast is about 39 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 77043, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 77043, month by month
77043 sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 49. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 55° | 49° |
| April | 80° | 71° | 64° |
| July | 94° | 85° | 79° |
| October | 83° | 74° | 67° |
Flying in and out of 77043
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 18 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.3 million passengers in 2025, with 214 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 77043
Schools across 77043 average a B, better than 84% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Terrace ElC · 33% proficient
- Bear Creek ElC− · 26% proficient
- Kirk ElC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Spring Forest MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Truitt MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Cardiff J HB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Stratford H SA− · 60% proficient
- Cypress Ridge H SB+ · 53% proficient
- Mayde Creek H SB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 77043 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
77043 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 77043 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 77043 suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in 77043
Is 77043 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 77043 ranks 12,321st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and biking, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 77043 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $401,013. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $79,852 median income, cost of living beats 66% of zip codes.
Is 77043 safe?
77043 is safer than 13% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $651 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 77043?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 49. That works out to about 143 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of zip codes.
Is 77043 good for families?
Schools beat 84% of zip codes, crime safety beats 13%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Compare 77043 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 77043. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 77043 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
77043 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 77043: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 77043: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 77043: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 77043: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
77043 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.