Best PlacesDenton, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Denton, 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.
Denton ranks 2,274th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Denton
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.
Denton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Denton ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$125,161 median, better than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Denton ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Denton
A household needs to earn about $131,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Denton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $125,161; 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 Denton's effective rate of 1.42%, 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 Denton
Denton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Denton.
Who works in Denton, and how
Work in Denton centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Denton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Denton.
What the weather is like in Denton, month by month
Denton sees roughly 127 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 67° | 51° | 40° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Denton
The nearest airport, Lincoln, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Denton
Schools across Denton average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Adams Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Beattie Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Milford Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scott Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Crete Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Park Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Southwest High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Milford High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Lincoln High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Denton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Denton 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 Denton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Denton
Is Denton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Denton ranks 2,274th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Denton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $462,061. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $125,161 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Denton safe?
Yes, Denton is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $202 per resident a year.
Compare Denton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Denton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Denton 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.
Denton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Denton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Denton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Denton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Denton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Denton 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.