Best PlacesBalcones Heights, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Balcones Heights, 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.
Balcones Heights ranks 39,204th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Balcones Heights
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.
Balcones Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Balcones Heights ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
Where Balcones Heights ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$29,690 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Balcones Heights
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Balcones Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $29,690, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Balcones Heights' effective rate of 0.11%, 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 Balcones Heights
Balcones Heights runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Balcones Heights.
Who works in Balcones Heights, and how
Work in Balcones Heights centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Balcones Heights
Balcones Heights has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Balcones Heights and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Balcones Heights, month by month
Balcones Heights sees roughly 153 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 53° | 40° |
| April | 84° | 70° | 58° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Balcones Heights
San Antonio International sits about 6 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 87 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Balcones Heights
Schools across Balcones Heights average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dellview ElD+ · 23% proficient
- Baskin ElD− · 13% proficient
- Arnold ElD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jackson MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
- Whittier MiddleD− · 14% proficient
- Longfellow MiddleF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Legacy Of Educational Excellence H SC+ · 39% proficient
- Jefferson H SC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Balcones Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Balcones Heights 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 Balcones Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Balcones Heights
Is Balcones Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Balcones Heights ranks 39,204th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and low property taxes, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Balcones Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $196,168. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $29,690 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Balcones Heights safe?
Balcones Heights is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $611 per resident a year.
Compare Balcones Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Balcones Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Balcones Heights 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.
Balcones Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Balcones Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Balcones Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Balcones Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Balcones Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Balcones Heights 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.