Best PlacesCollege Station, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the College Station metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Pmelton87, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
College Station ranks 187th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on thin health care access and civic engagement. It does better on low taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the College Station metro
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 College Station
The towns and districts of the College Station metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Downtown College Station
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Wixon Valley
More residents vote and it is quieter.
Franklin
More households have young kids, though biking is worse.
Caldwell & Somerville
More homes sit empty and heat risk is higher.
Bryan
Schools score lower and health care is harder to reach.
Hearne
Prices have run up less, though crime runs higher.
College Station shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
College Station's strengths and weaknesses
College Station lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low taxes, short commutes, and a strong job market carry most of that.
The one real hole is thin health care access, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and transit also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where College Station ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 89% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 83% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 83% of metro areas
Where College Station ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Household income$68,324 median, better than only 17% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in College Station
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median College Station home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,324, 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 College Station's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in College Station
College Station runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for College Station.
Who works in College Station, and how
Work in College Station centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in College Station
College Station has more late-night spots per resident than 66% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of College Station and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is College Station growing, and who is moving in?
College Station has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Houston, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving College Station go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in College Station, month by month
College Station sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 81° | 69° | 60° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 85° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of College Station
The nearest airport, Easterwood Field, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around College Station
Schools across College Station average a B−, better than 64% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Forest RidgeA+ · 77% proficient
- Spring Creek ElA− · 58% proficient
- Greens Prairie ElA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wellborn MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Pecan Trail IntA · 59% proficient
- College Station MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- College Station H SA · 71% proficient
- A & M Cons H SA · 67% proficient
- College View H SA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every College Station school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
College Station 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 College Station against the other 386 metro areas.
Who College Station suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in College Station
Is College Station a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, College Station ranks 187th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low taxes, short commutes, and a strong job market, 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 College Station expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,748. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $68,324 median income, cost of living beats 19% of metro areas.
Is College Station safe?
Yes, College Station is safer than 58% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $389 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in College Station?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 43. That works out to about 111 pleasant days a year, more than 68% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in College Station?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown College Station, Wixon Valley, and Franklin. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is College Station good for families?
Schools beat 64% of metro areas, crime safety beats 58%, and childcare runs $707 a month.
Is College Station good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 19% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 62% of metro areas. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare College Station with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to College Station. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in College Station 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.
College Station detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for College Station: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in College Station: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of College Station: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in College Station: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
College Station 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.