Best PlacesBend, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bend, 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.
Bend ranks 10,407th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bend
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.
Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bend ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 170 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$104,793 median, better than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
Where Bend ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute34.3 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bend
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,793, 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 Bend's effective rate of 0.57%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bend
Bend runs older 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 Bend.
Who works in Bend, and how
Work in Bend centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bend.
What the weather is like in Bend, month by month
Bend sees roughly 170 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 61, 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 | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 79° | 66° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Bend
The nearest airport, Robert Gray AAF, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Austin-Bergstrom International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bend
Schools across Bend average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Llano ElB · 47% proficient
- Kline Whitis ElB− · 43% proficient
- Rj Richey ElB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fredericksburg MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Lampasas MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Llano J HB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Lampasas H SB+ · 54% proficient
- Llano H SB+ · 53% proficient
- Fredericksburg H SB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bend 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 Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bend
Is Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bend ranks 10,407th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on summer heat and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $639,321. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $104,793 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Bend safe?
Bend is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $496 per resident a year.
Compare Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bend 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.
Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bend 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.