Best PlacesBalmorhea, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Balmorhea, 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.
Balmorhea ranks 42,848th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Balmorhea
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.
Balmorhea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Balmorhea ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute17.4 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Balmorhea ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Balmorhea
A household needs to earn about $18,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Balmorhea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,548, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Balmorhea's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Balmorhea
Balmorhea runs older 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 Balmorhea.
Who works in Balmorhea, and how
Work in Balmorhea centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Balmorhea
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Balmorhea.
What the weather is like in Balmorhea, month by month
Balmorhea sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 101 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 44° | 31° |
| April | 86° | 67° | 50° |
| July | 101° | 86° | 72° |
| October | 84° | 66° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Balmorhea
The nearest airport, Cavern City Air Terminal, is about 100 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 327 miles away.
The best schools in and around Balmorhea
Schools across Balmorhea average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Haynes ElC · 31% proficient
- Fort Stockton Alamo ElC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fort Stockton MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Stockton HighC− · 28% proficient
- Pecos H SD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Balmorhea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Balmorhea 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 Balmorhea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Balmorhea
Is Balmorhea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Balmorhea ranks 42,848th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, short commutes, and low taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Balmorhea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $73,142. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $65,548 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Balmorhea safe?
Balmorhea is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $980 per resident a year.
Compare Balmorhea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Balmorhea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Balmorhea 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.
Balmorhea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Balmorhea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Balmorhea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Balmorhea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Balmorhea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Balmorhea 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.