Best PlacesBrooks County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Brooks County, 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.
Brooks County ranks 2,711th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Brooks 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.
Brooks County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brooks County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 193 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 89% of counties
Where Brooks County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Brooks County
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brooks County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,220, 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 Brooks County's effective rate of 1.23%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Brooks County
Brooks County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Brooks County.
Who works in Brooks County, and how
Work in Brooks County centers on education and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brooks County
Brooks County has more parkland per resident than 86% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Brooks County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Brooks County growing, and who is moving in?
Brooks County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Jim Wells County, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Brooks County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Brooks County, month by month
Brooks County sees roughly 193 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 58° | 48° |
| April | 88° | 75° | 65° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 75° |
| October | 88° | 74° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Brooks County
The nearest airport, Corpus Christi International, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brooks County
Schools across Brooks County average a D+, better than 15% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Falfurrias ElF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Falfurrias J HD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Falfurrias H SC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brooks County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brooks 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 Brooks County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Brooks County
Is Brooks County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brooks County ranks 2,711th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, a stable housing market, and fast internet, and lowest on summer heat 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 Brooks County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $92,934. The overall cost of living runs about 28% below the national average. Set against a $62,220 median income, cost of living beats 66% of counties.
Is Brooks County safe?
Brooks County is safer than 4% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $855 per resident a year.
Compare Brooks County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brooks County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brooks 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.
Brooks County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brooks County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brooks County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brooks County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brooks County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brooks 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.