Best PlacesDenton, TX 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. 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.
Denton ranks 186th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on fast internet and low taxes. The weaker spots are thin health care access, civic engagement, and property taxes.
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
Denton lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet, low taxes, and state finances carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Thin health care access, civic engagement, and property taxes hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Denton ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 79% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 74% of cities
Where Denton ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 28% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 30% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Denton
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Denton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $80,033, 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 Denton's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 Denton
Denton runs younger 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 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 78%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Denton
Denton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Denton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Denton, month by month
Denton sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 97° | 86° | 75° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Denton
Dallas-Fort Worth International sits about 22 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 Denton
Schools across Denton average a C+, better than 46% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Argyle WestA · 64% proficient
- Heritage ElA− · 60% proficient
- Lance Thompson ElA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stem Academy At Clayton Downing MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
- Argyle MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
- Briarhill MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Argyle H SA+ · 82% proficient
- Marcus H SA · 79% proficient
- Guyer H SA · 68% 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 444 cities.
Who Denton suits
Families
Schools land around the 46th percentile and crime safety beats 79%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Denton
Is Denton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Denton ranks 186th of 445 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, low taxes, and state finances, 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 Denton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $329,363. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $80,033 median income, cost of living beats 48% of cities.
Is Denton safe?
Yes, Denton is safer than 79% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $345 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Denton?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 33. That works out to about 119 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of cities.
Is Denton good for families?
Schools beat 46% of cities, crime safety beats 79%, and childcare runs $863 a month.
Is Denton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 88% of cities. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Denton with other cities
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.