Best PlacesArlington, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arlington, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arlington ranks 259th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low taxes and state finances. The weaker spots are transit, civic engagement, and property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Arlington
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.
The best areas in Arlington
The parts of Arlington, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Southwest Arlington
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Northwestern Arlington
More adults hold degrees and health care is easier to reach.
Southeast Arlington
More households have young kids and fewer homes sit empty.
West
Prices have run up less, though heat risk is higher.
North Arlington
Scores close to West, except that biking is better here.
Central Arlington
Streets are more walkable, though crime runs higher.
East Arlington
Schools score lower and health outcomes score lower.
Arlington shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Arlington's strengths and weaknesses
Arlington lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low taxes, state finances, and big-city access are the strongest pieces, though none of them is exceptional.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Transit, civic engagement, and property taxes hold the score down. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Arlington ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 68% of cities
- Cheap childcare$907 a month, better than 67% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 66% of cities
Where Arlington ranks low
- TransitBetter than only 11% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 20% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Arlington
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arlington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $83,972; 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 Arlington's effective rate of 1.43%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Arlington
Arlington 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 Arlington.
Who works in Arlington, and how
Work in Arlington centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Arlington
Arlington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Arlington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arlington, month by month
Arlington sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 56° |
| July | 98° | 87° | 76° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Arlington
Dallas-Fort Worth International sits about 15 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 41.3 million passengers in 2025, with 289 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Arlington
Schools across Arlington average a C+, better than 39% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Viridian ElA− · 62% proficient
- Nancy Neal ElA− · 60% proficient
- Butler ElA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harwood J HA · 63% proficient
- Arlington Classics Academy - MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Hurst J HA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Arlington College And Career H SA− · 63% proficient
- Martin H SB+ · 56% proficient
- Mansfield Summit H SB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arlington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arlington 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 Arlington against the other 444 cities.
Who Arlington suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Arlington
Is Arlington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arlington ranks 259th of 445 cities. It scores highest on low taxes, state finances, and big-city access, and lowest on transit and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arlington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $302,998. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $83,972 median income, cost of living beats 59% of cities.
Is Arlington safe?
Arlington is safer than 48% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $465 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Arlington?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 37. That works out to about 134 pleasant days a year, more than 66% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Arlington?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Southwest Arlington, Northwestern Arlington, and Southeast Arlington. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Arlington good for families?
Schools beat 39% of cities, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $907 a month.
Is Arlington good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 59% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 63% of cities. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Arlington with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arlington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arlington 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.
Arlington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arlington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arlington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arlington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arlington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arlington 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.