Best PlacesAbilene Heights Area, Abilene, TX Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Abilene Heights Area, Abilene, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Abilene Heights Area, Abilene ranks 3,988th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.

#3,988
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Abilene Heights Area, Abilene

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Abilene Heights Area, Abilene 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.

Abilene Heights Area, Abilene's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Short commutes
Top 1%Affordable childcare
Top 5%Cell coverage
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Abilene Heights Area, Abilene with other neighborhoods.

Where Abilene Heights Area, Abilene ranks high

  • Short commute11.1 minutes each way, better than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap childcare$571 a month, better than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Cell coverageBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Local economyBetter than 96% of neighborhoods

Where Abilene Heights Area, Abilene ranks low

  • Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
  • TransitBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
  • Low property taxBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Abilene Heights Area, Abilene

A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Abilene Heights Area, Abilene home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $54,373, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$72,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,670
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $239,791 home
Median rent
$1,248
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,223
Property tax$368
Homeowners insurance$80

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 Abilene Heights Area, Abilene's effective rate of 1.84%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. 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 Abilene Heights Area, Abilene

Abilene Heights Area, Abilene runs younger than the country.

Median age
23
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
7%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3456%
35 to 4910%
50 to 647%
65 and older7%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Abilene Heights Area, Abilene.


Who works in Abilene Heights Area, Abilene, and how

Work in Abilene Heights Area, Abilene centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
8%
below the national average
Unemployment
5.0%
about the national average
Job growth
+12.1%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Education36%
Health care & social16%
Retail trade15%
Hospitality & food9%
Professional & technical5%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 72%
  • Work from home 8%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 19%

Life in Abilene Heights Area, Abilene

Abilene Heights Area, Abilene has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Abilene Heights Area, Abilene and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
39
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 71.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 73% of neighborhoods
Living on campus
1,456
students living in college or university housing

What the weather is like in Abilene Heights Area, Abilene, month by month

Abilene Heights Area, Abilene sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January61°45°32°
April82°65°51°
July98°85°73°
October83°67°54°

Flying in and out of Abilene Heights Area, Abilene

The nearest airport, Abilene Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 158 miles away.

Nearest airport
ABI
Abilene Regional, about 4 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
227th-busiest in the US, 8 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Abilene Heights Area, Abilene

Schools across Abilene Heights Area, Abilene average a C+, better than 48% of neighborhoods.

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 Abilene Heights Area, Abilene school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Abilene Heights Area, Abilene 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 Abilene Heights Area, Abilene against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in Abilene Heights Area, Abilene

Is Abilene Heights Area, Abilene a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Abilene Heights Area, Abilene ranks 3,988th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on short commutes, affordable childcare, and cell coverage, and lowest on empty homes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Abilene Heights Area, Abilene expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $239,791. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $54,373 median income, cost of living beats 26% of neighborhoods.

Is Abilene Heights Area, Abilene safe?

Yes, Abilene Heights Area, Abilene is safer than 63% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $447 per resident a year.


Compare Abilene Heights Area, Abilene with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

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

Abilene Heights Area, Abilene detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

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

Abilene Heights Area, Abilene 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.