Best PlacesBowie County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bowie County, 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.
Bowie County ranks 1,895th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Bowie County
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.
The best areas in Bowie County
The parts of Bowie County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Hooks
Local pay stretches further, more adults hold degrees, and more residents vote.
Wake Village
It is quieter and crime runs lower.
Nash
More households have young kids, though prices have run up more.
DeKalb
More homes sit empty and incomes run lower.
New Boston
Advertised internet is slower and commutes are longer.
Texarkana
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Bowie County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Bowie County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bowie County ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Short commute18.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of counties
- Cheap childcare$558 a month, better than 82% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of counties
Where Bowie County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 19% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 19% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bowie County
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bowie County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,943, 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 Bowie County's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 Bowie County
Bowie County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bowie County.
Who works in Bowie County, and how
Work in Bowie County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bowie County
Bowie County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 94% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bowie County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bowie County growing, and who is moving in?
Bowie County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Texarkana, TX metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bowie County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bowie County, month by month
Bowie County sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 56, 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 | 56° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 95° | 84° | 75° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Bowie County
The nearest airport, Texarkana Regional-Webb Field, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 159 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bowie County
Schools across Bowie County average a B−, better than 64% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Martha & Josh Morriss Math & Engineering ElA+ · 87% proficient
- Pleasant Grove IntA · 66% proficient
- Red Lick ElA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pleasant Grove MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Redwater J HA− · 58% proficient
- Red Lick MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Redwater H SA · 75% proficient
- Pleasant Grove H SA− · 65% proficient
- Hooks H SA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bowie County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bowie County 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 Bowie County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Bowie County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Bowie County
Is Bowie County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bowie County ranks 1,895th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, short commutes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bowie County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $183,970. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $65,943 median income, cost of living beats 50% of counties.
Is Bowie County safe?
Bowie County is safer than 28% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $517 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bowie County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 37. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bowie County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hooks, Wake Village, and Nash. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Bowie County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bowie County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bowie County 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.
Bowie County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bowie County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bowie County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bowie County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bowie County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bowie County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.