Best PlacesFair Play, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fair Play, 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.
Fair Play ranks 14,981st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fair Play
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.
Fair Play's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fair Play ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$96,045 median, better than 82% of towns
Where Fair Play ranks low
- Short commute45.2 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fair Play
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fair Play home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,045, 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 Fair Play's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fair Play
Fair Play runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fair Play.
Who works in Fair Play, and how
Work in Fair Play centers on transportation & warehousing and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Fair Play
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fair Play.
What the weather is like in Fair Play, month by month
Fair Play sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Fair Play
The nearest airport, East Texas Regional, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fair Play
Schools across Fair Play average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Beckville Sunset ElB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tatum MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Carthage J HB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Tatum H SB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fair Play school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fair Play 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 Fair Play against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fair Play
Is Fair Play a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fair Play ranks 14,981st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, a strong job market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fair Play expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,515. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $96,045 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Fair Play safe?
Fair Play is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $381 per resident a year.
Compare Fair Play with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fair Play. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fair Play 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.
Fair Play detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fair Play: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fair Play: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fair Play: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fair Play: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fair Play 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.