Best PlacesEl Paso, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the El Paso metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by LC Rogers, via commons
El Paso ranks 305th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on tree cover and civic engagement. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the El Paso metro
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 El Paso
The towns and districts of the El Paso metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Homestead Meadows South
More households have young kids, crime runs lower, and fewer homes sit empty.
Downtown El Paso
More adults hold degrees and local pay stretches further.
Fort Bliss
Biking is better and transit reaches more jobs.
Horizon City, Socorro & San Elizario
Streets are more car-dependent and commutes are longer.
Homestead Meadows North
Heat risk is lower, though health care is harder to reach.
El Paso shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
El Paso's strengths and weaknesses
El Paso ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Affordable childcare and the weather follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: tree cover, civic engagement, and thin health care access all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where El Paso ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$564 a month, better than 97% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 82% of metro areas
Where El Paso ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in El Paso
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Paso home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,970, 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 El Paso's effective rate of 1.77%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in El Paso
El Paso 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 El Paso.
Who works in El Paso, and how
Work in El Paso centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in El Paso
El Paso has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of El Paso and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is El Paso growing, and who is moving in?
El Paso has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dallas, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving El Paso go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in El Paso, month by month
El Paso sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 47° | 32° |
| April | 84° | 69° | 52° |
| July | 100° | 87° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 55° |
Flying in and out of El Paso
The nearest airport, El Paso International, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 224 miles away.
The best schools in and around El Paso
Schools across El Paso average a C+, better than 45% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Marguerite J Lundy ElA− · 58% proficient
- Polk ElA− · 56% proficient
- Tippin ElB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hornedo MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Idea Edgemere College PreparatoryB+ · 49% proficient
- Wiggs MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Silva Health MagnetA+ · 80% proficient
- Transmountain Early College H SA · 73% proficient
- Clint Isd Early College AcademyA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Paso school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Paso 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 El Paso against the other 386 metro areas.
Who El Paso suits
Common questions about living in El Paso
Is El Paso a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Paso ranks 305th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cell coverage, affordable childcare, and the weather, and lowest on tree cover and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Paso expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $190,270. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $65,970 median income, cost of living beats 19% of metro areas.
Is El Paso safe?
El Paso is safer than 23% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $491 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in El Paso?
July highs average about 100 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 32. That works out to about 176 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in El Paso?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Homestead Meadows South, Downtown El Paso, and Fort Bliss. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is El Paso good for families?
Schools beat 45% of metro areas, crime safety beats 23%, and childcare runs $564 a month.
Is El Paso good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 19% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 52% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare El Paso with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Paso. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Paso 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.
El Paso detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Paso: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Paso: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Paso: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Paso: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Paso 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.