Best PlacesCanyon Lake, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Canyon Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Canyon Lake ranks 5,116th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Canyon Lake
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.
Canyon Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Canyon Lake ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Canyon Lake ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute39.4 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 35% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Canyon Lake
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Canyon Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $103,089; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Canyon Lake's effective rate of 0.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Canyon Lake
Canyon Lake runs older than the country, 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 Canyon Lake.
Who works in Canyon Lake, and how
Work in Canyon Lake centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Canyon Lake
Canyon Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Canyon Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Canyon Lake, month by month
Canyon Lake sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 52° | 41° |
| April | 84° | 70° | 59° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 74° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Canyon Lake
San Antonio International sits about 27 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 87 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Canyon Lake
Schools across Canyon Lake average an A−, better than 87% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bill Brown ElA− · 57% proficient
- Mt Valley ElB · 48% proficient
- Rebecca Creek ElB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Smithson Valley MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Mt Valley MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Navarro IntB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Memorial Early College H S With St Philip'sA+ · 82% proficient
- Navarro H SB+ · 55% proficient
- Canyon Lake H SB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Canyon Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Canyon Lake 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 Canyon Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Canyon Lake
Is Canyon Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Canyon Lake ranks 5,116th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, the weather, and cell coverage, and lowest on summer heat and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Canyon Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $400,553. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $103,089 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Canyon Lake safe?
Yes, Canyon Lake is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
Compare Canyon Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Canyon Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Canyon Lake 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.
Canyon Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Canyon Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Canyon Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Canyon Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Canyon Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Canyon Lake 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.