Best PlacesDuncanville, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Duncanville, 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.
Duncanville ranks 1,653rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Civic engagement pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Duncanville
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.
Duncanville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Duncanville ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 73% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 72% of cities
Where Duncanville ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Duncanville
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Duncanville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,351, 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 Duncanville's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Duncanville
Duncanville runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Duncanville.
Who works in Duncanville, and how
Work in Duncanville centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Duncanville
Duncanville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Duncanville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Duncanville, month by month
Duncanville sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 77° | 66° | 56° |
| July | 97° | 86° | 76° |
| October | 81° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Duncanville
Dallas Love Field sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Duncanville
Schools across Duncanville average a D+, better than 11% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cedar Hill Collegiate PrepB · 47% proficient
- Martin Weiss ElC · 34% proficient
- Ume Preparatory Academy - DuncanvilleC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cedar Hill Collegiate AcademyB+ · 52% proficient
- G W Kennemer MiddleC · 31% proficient
- D A Hulcy Steam MiddleC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedar Hill Collegiate H SA · 72% proficient
- Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate AcademyA− · 60% proficient
- Duncanville H SC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Duncanville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Duncanville 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 Duncanville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Duncanville suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Duncanville
Is Duncanville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Duncanville ranks 1,653rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low taxes, state finances, and cell coverage, and lowest on civic engagement and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Duncanville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,488. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $75,351 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is Duncanville safe?
Duncanville is safer than 14% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $530 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Duncanville?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 38. That works out to about 119 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of cities.
Is Duncanville good for families?
Schools beat 11% of cities, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $883 a month.
Compare Duncanville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Duncanville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Duncanville 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.
Duncanville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Duncanville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Duncanville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Duncanville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Duncanville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Duncanville 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.