Best PlacesBig Sandy, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Sandy, 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.
Big Sandy ranks 33,930th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Big Sandy
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 Sandy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Sandy ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$574 a month, better than 81% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 74% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 66% of towns
Where Big Sandy ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 25% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Sandy
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Sandy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,360, 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 Sandy's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 4 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 Sandy
Big Sandy runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Big Sandy.
Who works in Big Sandy, and how
Work in Big Sandy centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Big Sandy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Sandy.
What the weather is like in Big Sandy, month by month
Big Sandy sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Big Sandy
The nearest airport, Tyler Pounds Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Sandy
Schools across Big Sandy average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harmony ElB · 48% proficient
- Hawkins ElB · 47% proficient
- Harmony IntB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Big Sandy J HB− · 42% proficient
- Gilmer IntC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Gilmer H SA− · 60% proficient
- Harmony H SB+ · 53% proficient
- Hawkins H S / MiddleB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Sandy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Sandy 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 Sandy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Sandy
Is Big Sandy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Sandy ranks 33,930th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, affordable childcare, and state finances, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Sandy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $148,984. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $62,360 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Big Sandy safe?
Big Sandy is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $455 per resident a year.
Compare Big Sandy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Sandy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Sandy 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 Sandy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Sandy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Sandy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Sandy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Sandy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Sandy 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.