Best PlacesFayette County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Fayette County, 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.
Fayette County ranks 1,022nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fayette County
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 Fayette County
The parts of Fayette County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
La Grange
More households have young kids, advertised internet is faster, and fewer homes sit empty.
Flatonia
Prices have run up less, though it is noisier.
Schulenburg
Fewer adults hold degrees and incomes run lower.
Scores across Fayette County run from about the 21st to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fayette County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fayette County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 168 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 79% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of counties
Where Fayette County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of counties
- Cheap childcare$923 a month, better than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Fayette County
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fayette County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,087, 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 Fayette County's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Fayette County
Fayette County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fayette County.
Who works in Fayette County, and how
Work in Fayette County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Fayette County
Fayette County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of counties and more parkland per resident than 72% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fayette County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fayette County growing, and who is moving in?
Fayette County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Austin, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fayette County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fayette County, month by month
Fayette County sees roughly 168 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 81° | 70° | 61° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Fayette County
Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 52 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.7 million passengers in 2025, with 127 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Fayette County
Schools across Fayette County average a B, better than 76% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Weimar ElB+ · 53% proficient
- Flatonia ElB · 47% proficient
- Round Top-carmine ElB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- La Grange MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Weimar J HB · 43% proficient
- Smithville J HB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Round Top-carmine H SA · 72% proficient
- Flatonia SecondaryA · 68% proficient
- Giddings H SA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fayette County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fayette County 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 Fayette County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Fayette County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Fayette County
Is Fayette County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fayette County ranks 1,022nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and big-city access, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fayette County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $292,644. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $76,087 median income, cost of living beats 67% of counties.
Is Fayette County safe?
Fayette County is safer than 43% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $414 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fayette County?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 43. That works out to about 168 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fayette County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are La Grange, Flatonia, and Schulenburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Fayette County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fayette County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fayette County 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.
Fayette County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fayette County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fayette County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fayette County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fayette County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fayette County 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.