Best PlacesFort Bend County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Fort Bend County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fort Bend County ranks 155th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $128,106, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are air quality, property taxes, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Bend 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 Fort Bend County
The parts of Fort Bend 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.
Katy
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and schools score higher.
Greatwood
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Fresno & Sienna Plantation
More adults hold degrees and heat risk is lower.
Pecan Grove & New Territory
Prices have run up less, though it is noisier.
Richmond & Mission Bend
Scores close to Pecan Grove & New Territory, except that health care is harder to reach here.
Meadows Place
Commutes are shorter, though fewer residents vote.
Missouri City, Sugar Land & Stafford
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Rosenberg & Needville
Biking is worse and advertised internet is slower.
Fort Bend County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Fort Bend County's strengths and weaknesses
Fort Bend County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. High incomes and population health follow.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and disaster risk also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Fort Bend County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of counties
- Household income$128,106 median, better than 98% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of counties
Where Fort Bend County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Short commute32.7 minutes each way, better than only 8% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Bend County
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Bend County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $128,106, 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 Fort Bend County's effective rate of 1.72%, 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 Fort Bend County
Fort Bend County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Fort Bend County.
Who works in Fort Bend County, and how
Work in Fort Bend County centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Fort Bend County
Fort Bend County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. The coast is about 47 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Fort Bend County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fort Bend County growing, and who is moving in?
Fort Bend County has grown about 40% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Houston, TX metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fort Bend County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fort Bend County, month by month
Fort Bend County sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 55° | 46° |
| April | 82° | 71° | 62° |
| July | 95° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 85° | 73° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Fort Bend County
William P Hobby sits about 24 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 101 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Fort Bend County
Schools across Fort Bend County average a B, better than 83% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Ray And Jamie Wolman ElA+ · 79% proficient
- Commonwealth ElA+ · 79% proficient
- Odessa Kilpatrick ElA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seven Lakes J HA+ · 84% proficient
- Beckendorff J HA+ · 82% proficient
- Tays J HA+ · 81% proficient
Top high schools
- Seven Lakes H SA+ · 90% proficient
- Tompkins H SA+ · 85% proficient
- Jordan H SA+ · 82% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Bend County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Bend 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 Fort Bend County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Fort Bend County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Fort Bend County
Is Fort Bend County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Bend County ranks 155th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and population health, and lowest on air quality and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Bend County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $389,726. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $128,106 median income, cost of living beats 100% of counties.
Is Fort Bend County safe?
Fort Bend County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fort Bend County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 46. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fort Bend County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Katy, Greatwood, and Fresno & Sienna Plantation. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fort Bend County good for families?
Schools beat 83% of counties, crime safety beats 52%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Is Fort Bend County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fort Bend County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Bend County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Bend 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.
Fort Bend County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Bend County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Bend County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Bend County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Bend County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Bend 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.