Best PlacesAllen, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Allen, 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.
Allen ranks 22nd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $141,818, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are transit, property taxes, and cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in Allen
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.
Allen's strengths and weaknesses
Allen ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. A strong job market is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. What local pay buys and high incomes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Transit, property taxes, and cell coverage hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Allen ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of cities
- Household income$141,818 median, better than 96% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of cities
Where Allen ranks low
- TransitBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Allen
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Allen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $141,818; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Allen'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Allen
Allen's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Allen.
Who works in Allen, and how
Work in Allen centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Allen
Allen has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Allen and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Allen, month by month
Allen sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 75° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Allen
Dallas Love Field sits about 21 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Allen
Schools across Allen average a B+, better than 88% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mary Evans ElA+ · 75% proficient
- Robert L Puster ElA+ · 73% proficient
- Jenny Preston ElA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vandeventer MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
- Sloan Creek IntA+ · 75% proficient
- Ereckson MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Lovejoy H SA+ · 85% proficient
- Plano East Sr H SA+ · 81% proficient
- Mckinney H SA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Allen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Allen 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 Allen against the other 444 cities.
Who Allen suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 28% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Allen
Is Allen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Allen ranks 22nd of 445 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on transit and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Allen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $505,171. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $141,818 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Allen safe?
Yes, Allen is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $341 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Allen?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 35. That works out to about 107 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of cities.
Is Allen good for families?
Schools beat 88% of cities, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $863 a month.
Is Allen good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 78% of cities. About 28% of workers already work from home.
Compare Allen with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Allen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Allen 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.
Allen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Allen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Allen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Allen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Allen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Allen 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.