Best PlacesGaines County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Gaines County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gaines County ranks 2,086th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gaines 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.
Gaines County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gaines County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- BikingBetter than 86% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 83% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 82% of counties
Where Gaines County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Gaines County
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gaines County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,679, 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 Gaines County's effective rate of 1.50%, 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 Gaines County
Gaines County 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 Gaines County.
Who works in Gaines County, and how
Work in Gaines County centers on construction and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Gaines County
Gaines County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Gaines County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Gaines County growing, and who is moving in?
Gaines County has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lea County, NM.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Gaines County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Gaines County, month by month
Gaines County sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 42° | 30° |
| April | 81° | 63° | 48° |
| July | 96° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 79° | 63° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Gaines County
The nearest airport, Lea County Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 276 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gaines County
Schools across Gaines County average a C+, better than 53% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Seminole ElB+ · 55% proficient
- Seminole PriB · 48% proficient
- Kelley ElC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seminole J HB · 46% proficient
- William G Gravitt J HC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Seminole H SB− · 41% proficient
- Seminole Success CtrD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gaines County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gaines 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 Gaines County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Gaines County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of counties and 5% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Gaines County
Is Gaines County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gaines County ranks 2,086th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, low taxes, and biking, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gaines County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,955. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $82,679 median income, cost of living beats 82% of counties.
Is Gaines County safe?
Gaines County is safer than 9% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $673 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gaines County?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 30. That works out to about 124 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of counties.
Is Gaines County good for families?
Schools beat 53% of counties, crime safety beats 9%, and childcare runs $706 a month.
Compare Gaines County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gaines County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gaines 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.
Gaines County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gaines County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gaines County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gaines County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gaines County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gaines 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.