Best PlacesBrownwood, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brownwood, 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.
Brownwood ranks 28,494th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Brownwood
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.
Brownwood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brownwood ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 157 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
Where Brownwood ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brownwood
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brownwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,526, 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 Brownwood's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Brownwood
Brownwood'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 Brownwood.
Who works in Brownwood, and how
Work in Brownwood centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Brownwood
Brownwood has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 82% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brownwood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brownwood, month by month
Brownwood sees roughly 157 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 60, 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 | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| April | 79° | 65° | 53° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Brownwood
The nearest airport, Abilene Regional, is about 63 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Austin-Bergstrom International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brownwood
Schools across Brownwood average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- East ElB+ · 55% proficient
- Woodland Heights ElB+ · 53% proficient
- J B Stephens ElB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Early MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Bangs MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
- Brownwood MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Early H SA− · 63% proficient
- Bangs H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Brownwood H SB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brownwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brownwood 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 Brownwood against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Brownwood suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 5% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Brownwood
Is Brownwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brownwood ranks 28,494th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, cell coverage, and short commutes, and lowest on thin health care access and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brownwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,620. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $56,526 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Brownwood safe?
Brownwood is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $634 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brownwood?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 33. That works out to about 157 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of towns.
Is Brownwood good for families?
Schools beat 52% of towns, crime safety beats 13%, and childcare runs $571 a month.
Compare Brownwood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brownwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brownwood 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.
Brownwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brownwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brownwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brownwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brownwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brownwood 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.