Best Places78641, TX Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 78641, 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

78641 ranks 398th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#398
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 78641

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 78641 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.

78641's strengths and weaknesses

#398Best US zip overall
Top 3%What local pay buys
Top 3%A strong job market
Top 10%High incomes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 78641 with other zip codes.

Where 78641 ranks high

  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Household income$140,034 median, better than 94% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than 93% of zip codes

Where 78641 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than only 21% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 29% of zip codes
  • Short commute29.8 minutes each way, better than only 29% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 78641

A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 78641 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $140,034; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$149,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,472
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $511,851 home
Median rent
$2,146
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,610
Property tax$691
Homeowners insurance$171

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 78641's effective rate of 1.62%, 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 78641

78641 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
11%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.8
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1826%
18 to 3422%
35 to 4921%
50 to 6421%
65 and older11%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 78641.


Who works in 78641, and how

Work in 78641 centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
30%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.8%
below the national average
Job growth
+17.8%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical18%
Retail trade11%
Manufacturing10%
Health care & social10%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 68%
  • Work from home 30%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in 78641

78641 has more parkland per resident than 94% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 78641 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
209
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 25.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 38% of zip codes
Coffee shops
31
about 3.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 59% of zip codes
Parkland
1,264 acres
about 15.5 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 94% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~44
food and drink venues open late, about 5.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 42% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 78641, month by month

78641 sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through May 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
January62°50°42°
April80°68°59°
July96°84°75°
October82°70°61°

Flying in and out of 78641

Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 28 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.7 million passengers in 2025, with 127 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
AUS
Austin-Bergstrom International, about 28 miles
Airport size
Large hub
29th-busiest in the US, 127 nonstop destinations
Average drive
40 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 78641

Schools across 78641 average a B, better than 66% 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 78641 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


78641 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 78641 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 78641 suits

Families

Schools beat 66% of zip codes and crime safety beats 92%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 30% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 92% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 78641

Is 78641 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 78641 ranks 398th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a strong job market, and high incomes, and lowest on property taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 78641 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $511,851. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $140,034 median income, cost of living beats 99% of zip codes.

Is 78641 safe?

Yes, 78641 is safer than 92% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 78641?

July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 42. That works out to about 161 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of zip codes.

Is 78641 good for families?

Schools beat 66% of zip codes, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $948 a month.


Compare 78641 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 78641. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 78641 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.

78641 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 78641: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 78641: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 78641: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 78641: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

78641 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.