Best PlacesCameron County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cameron County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cameron County ranks 2,586th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 33 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and cell coverage. The cost shows up in civic engagement, thin health care access, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Cameron 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 Cameron County
The parts of Cameron 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.
Rio Hondo
Prices have run up less, it is quieter, and local pay stretches further.
Olmito
Fewer homes sit empty and advertised internet is faster.
Los Fresnos, Port Isabel & Laguna Vista
Fewer households have young kids and crime runs higher.
La Feria
Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.
Harlingen
Heat risk is higher.
Brownsville
Scores close to Harlingen, except that fewer residents vote here.
San Benito
Schools score lower.
Scores across Cameron County run from about the 3rd to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cameron County's strengths and weaknesses
Cameron County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. The weather, cell coverage, and low taxes carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: civic engagement, thin health care access, and summer heat all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Cameron County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 169 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of counties
Where Cameron County ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cameron County
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cameron County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,228, 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 Cameron County's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 Cameron County
Cameron County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cameron County.
Who works in Cameron County, and how
Work in Cameron County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cameron County
Cameron County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of counties and less late-night activity than most counties. The coast is about 33 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cameron County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cameron County growing, and who is moving in?
Cameron County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Mcallen, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cameron County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cameron County, month by month
Cameron County sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 75, with lows near 52. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 75° | 62° | 52° |
| April | 88° | 76° | 67° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 78° |
| October | 89° | 77° | 68° |
Flying in and out of Cameron County
The nearest airport, Brownsville/South Padre Island International, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 247 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cameron County
Schools across Cameron County average a C, better than 45% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Ortiz ElA− · 57% proficient
- Rancho Verde ElB+ · 51% proficient
- Olmito ElB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Texas Isd Rising Scholars AcademyA · 62% proficient
- Resaca MiddleB− · 43% proficient
- Liberty Memorial MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Brownsville Early College H SA · 73% proficient
- Harlingen School Of Health ProfessionsA · 72% proficient
- Harlingen Collegiate H SA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cameron County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cameron 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 Cameron County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cameron County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cameron County
Is Cameron County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cameron County ranks 2,586th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and low taxes, and lowest on civic engagement 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 Cameron County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,776. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $58,228 median income, cost of living beats 31% of counties.
Is Cameron County safe?
Cameron County is safer than 28% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $503 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cameron County?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 75 with lows near 52. That works out to about 169 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cameron County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rio Hondo, Olmito, and Los Fresnos, Port Isabel & Laguna Vista. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cameron County good for families?
Schools beat 45% of counties, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $712 a month.
Is Cameron County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 31% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cameron County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cameron County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cameron 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.
Cameron County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cameron County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cameron County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cameron County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cameron County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cameron 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.