Best PlacesCooke County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cooke County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cooke County ranks 1,068th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cooke 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 Cooke County
The parts of Cooke 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.
Muenster
Valley View
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Gainesville
Streets are more walkable, though local pay stretches less far.
Cooke County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Cooke County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cooke County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 83% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 78% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 123 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of counties
Where Cooke County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 20% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cooke County
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cooke County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,890, 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 Cooke County's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cooke County
Cooke County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cooke County.
Who works in Cooke County, and how
Work in Cooke County 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 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cooke County
Cooke County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Cooke County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cooke County growing, and who is moving in?
Cooke County has grown about 14% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dallas, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cooke County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cooke County, month by month
Cooke County sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 33° |
| April | 75° | 62° | 52° |
| July | 96° | 84° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Cooke County
Dallas-Fort Worth International sits about 49 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 41.3 million passengers in 2025, with 289 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cooke County
Schools across Cooke County average a C+, better than 58% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sivells Bend ElA− · 58% proficient
- Lindsay ElB+ · 52% proficient
- Muenster ElB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitesboro MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Callisburg MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Pilot Point Selz MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Lindsay H SA · 75% proficient
- Muenster H SA · 68% proficient
- Callisburg H SB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cooke County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cooke 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 Cooke County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cooke County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Cooke County
Is Cooke County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cooke County ranks 1,068th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, low taxes, and few empty homes, and lowest on air quality 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 Cooke County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,878. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $77,890 median income, cost of living beats 78% of counties.
Is Cooke County safe?
Cooke County is safer than 54% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $391 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cooke County?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 33. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cooke County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Muenster, Valley View, and Gainesville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Cooke County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cooke County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cooke 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.
Cooke County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cooke County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cooke County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cooke County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cooke County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cooke 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.