Best Places77521, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 77521, 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.
77521 ranks 19,178th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 77521
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.
77521's strengths and weaknesses
Where 77521 ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of zip codes
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 91% of zip codes
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of zip codes
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of zip codes
Where 77521 ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 77521
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 77521 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,777, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 77521's effective rate of 1.59%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 77521
77521 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 77521.
Who works in 77521, and how
Work in 77521 centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in 77521
The coast is about 14 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 77521, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 77521, month by month
77521 sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 55° | 48° |
| April | 79° | 71° | 63° |
| July | 93° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 82° | 73° | 66° |
Flying in and out of 77521
William P Hobby sits about 21 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 101 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 77521
Schools across 77521 average a B, better than 64% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Deer Park ElA− · 55% proficient
- Alamo ElB− · 41% proficient
- Clark ElC+ · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Deer Park J HA · 62% proficient
- Highlands J HB · 43% proficient
- Gentry J HB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Deer Park H SA− · 64% proficient
- Impact Early College H SA− · 62% proficient
- Sterling H SB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 77521 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
77521 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 77521 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 77521 suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in 77521
Is 77521 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 77521 ranks 19,178th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cell coverage, low taxes, and fast internet, and lowest on thin health care access and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 77521 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,432. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $76,777 median income, cost of living beats 63% of zip codes.
Is 77521 safe?
77521 is safer than 36% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $447 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 77521?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 48. That works out to about 134 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of zip codes.
Is 77521 good for families?
Schools beat 64% of zip codes, crime safety beats 36%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Compare 77521 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 77521. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 77521 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.
77521 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 77521: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 77521: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 77521: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 77521: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
77521 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.