Best Places78255, TX Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 78255, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

78255 ranks 185th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.

#185
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 78255

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 78255 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

78255's strengths and weaknesses

#185Best US zip overall
Top 1%What local pay buys
Top 3%High incomes
Top 5%Low crime
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 78255 with other zip codes.

Where 78255 ranks high

  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Household income$173,438 median, better than 98% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than 95% of zip codes

Where 78255 ranks low

  • Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 20% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 32% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 36% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 78255

A household needs to earn about $152,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 78255 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $173,438, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$152,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,541
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $522,792 home
Median rent
$2,128
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,666
Property tax$701
Homeowners insurance$174

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 78255's effective rate of 1.61%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 78255

78255's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.9
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1826%
18 to 3418%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6422%
65 and older15%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 78255.


Who works in 78255, and how

Work in 78255 centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
23%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.5%
below the national average
Job growth
+9.2%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Finance & insurance13%
Professional & technical12%
Education12%
Retail trade9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 75%
  • Work from home 23%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 78255

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 78255.

Places to eat and drink
43
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 24.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 36% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 78255, month by month

78255 sees roughly 151 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January67°53°40°
April84°70°58°
July98°85°76°
October86°72°61°

Flying in and out of 78255

San Antonio International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 87 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SAT
San Antonio International, about 14 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
43rd-busiest in the US, 87 nonstop destinations
Average drive
19 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 78255

Schools across 78255 average an A−, better than 83% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 78255 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


78255 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 78255 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 78255

Is 78255 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 78255 ranks 185th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and low crime, and lowest on summer heat and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 78255 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $522,792. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $173,438 median income, cost of living beats 100% of zip codes.

Is 78255 safe?

Yes, 78255 is safer than 96% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.


Compare 78255 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 78255. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 78255 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.

78255 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 78255: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 78255: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 78255: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 78255: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

78255 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.