Best PlacesCotton Center, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cotton Center, 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.
Cotton Center ranks 29,838th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cotton Center
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.
Cotton Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cotton Center ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.3 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of towns
Where Cotton Center ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cotton Center
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cotton Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,592, 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 Cotton Center's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 Cotton Center
Cotton Center runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cotton Center.
Who works in Cotton Center, and how
Work in Cotton Center centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Cotton Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cotton Center.
What the weather is like in Cotton Center, month by month
Cotton Center sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 36° | 24° |
| April | 75° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 93° | 79° | 66° |
| October | 75° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Cotton Center
The nearest airport, Lubbock Preston Smith International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 273 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cotton Center
Schools across Cotton Center average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Abernathy ElB · 47% proficient
- Akin ElB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Abernathy MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Carr MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Abernathy H SB · 48% proficient
- Hale Center H SC+ · 40% proficient
- Olton H SC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cotton Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cotton Center 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 Cotton Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cotton Center
Is Cotton Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cotton Center ranks 29,838th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, short commutes, and low taxes, and lowest on tree cover 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 Cotton Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,602. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $66,592 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Cotton Center safe?
Cotton Center is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $594 per resident a year.
Compare Cotton Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cotton Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cotton Center 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.
Cotton Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cotton Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cotton Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cotton Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cotton Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cotton Center 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.