Best PlacesBristol, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bristol, 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.
Bristol ranks 26,846th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bristol
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.
Bristol's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bristol ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
Where Bristol ranks low
- Short commute41.4 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bristol
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bristol home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,077, 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 Bristol's effective rate of 0.79%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Bristol
Bristol runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bristol.
Who works in Bristol, and how
Work in Bristol centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in Bristol
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bristol.
What the weather is like in Bristol, month by month
Bristol sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 96° | 84° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Bristol
Dallas Love Field sits about 31 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bristol
Schools across Bristol average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jack Lummus IntC+ · 40% proficient
- Palmer ElC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Palmer MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Palmer H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Ennis H SB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bristol school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bristol 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 Bristol against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bristol
Is Bristol a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bristol ranks 26,846th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, big-city access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on long commutes 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 Bristol expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $364,600. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $83,077 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Bristol safe?
Yes, Bristol is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $329 per resident a year.
Compare Bristol with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bristol. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bristol 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.
Bristol detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bristol: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bristol: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bristol: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bristol: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bristol 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.