Best PlacesBig Lake, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Lake, 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.
Big Lake ranks 23,035th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Big Lake
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.
Big Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Lake ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
Where Big Lake ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Lake
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,900, 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 Big Lake's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Big Lake
Big Lake 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 Big Lake.
Who works in Big Lake, and how
Work in Big Lake centers on mining & oil & gas and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Big Lake
Big Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Big Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Big Lake, month by month
Big Lake sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 45° | 33° |
| April | 82° | 66° | 53° |
| July | 96° | 83° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Big Lake
The nearest airport, San Angelo Regional/Mathis Field, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 212 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Lake
Schools across Big Lake average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Irion ElB · 45% proficient
- Ozona ElC+ · 37% proficient
- Reagan County ElC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ozona MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Reagan County MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Mccamey MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Irion H SB+ · 57% proficient
- Ozona H SB− · 45% proficient
- Reagan County H SD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Lake 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 Big Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Lake
Is Big Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Lake ranks 23,035th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and a stable housing market, and lowest on tree cover 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 Big Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $188,845. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $67,900 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Big Lake safe?
Big Lake is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $868 per resident a year.
Compare Big Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Lake 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.
Big Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Lake 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.