Best PlacesFriendswood, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Friendswood, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Friendswood ranks 488th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Friendswood
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.
Friendswood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Friendswood ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of cities
- Household income$137,965 median, better than 86% of cities
Where Friendswood ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 21% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Friendswood
A household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Friendswood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $137,965, 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 Friendswood's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Friendswood
Friendswood runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Friendswood.
Who works in Friendswood, and how
Work in Friendswood centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Friendswood
Friendswood has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Friendswood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Friendswood, month by month
Friendswood sees roughly 136 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 47. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 55° | 47° |
| April | 81° | 71° | 63° |
| July | 94° | 85° | 78° |
| October | 84° | 74° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Friendswood
William P Hobby sits about 10 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 Friendswood
Schools across Friendswood average an A−, better than 86% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Windsong IntA+ · 74% proficient
- C W Cline ElA · 63% proficient
- Zue S Bales IntA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westbrook IntA+ · 69% proficient
- Friendswood J HA · 64% proficient
- Alexander MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Robert Turner College And Career H SA · 74% proficient
- Friendswood H SA · 73% proficient
- Clear Springs H SA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Friendswood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Friendswood 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 Friendswood against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Friendswood suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Friendswood
Is Friendswood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Friendswood ranks 488th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a stable housing market, and low taxes, and lowest on disaster risk and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Friendswood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $398,545. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $137,965 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Friendswood safe?
Friendswood is safer than 42% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $417 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Friendswood?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 47. That works out to about 136 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of cities.
Is Friendswood good for families?
Schools beat 86% of cities, crime safety beats 42%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Compare Friendswood with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Friendswood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Friendswood 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.
Friendswood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Friendswood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Friendswood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Friendswood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Friendswood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Friendswood 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.