Best PlacesGarland, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garland, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Garland ranks 274th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on civic engagement and education levels. It does better on a stable housing market, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Garland
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 Garland
The parts of Garland, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Coomer Creek & Buckingham North
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Oakridge, Apollo Arapaho and Camelot & Springpark
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Northeast Garland, Country Brook & Valley Creek North
More residents vote, though fewer households have young kids.
Mill Creek Crossing, Creek Valley & Glynnhill Highland Estates
Streets are more car-dependent and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Oaks, New West & The Shores of Wellington
Biking is worse.
Almeta-Bonita-Bella Vista
Heat risk is lower, though health care is harder to reach.
Northeast Dallas-White Rock & Fernwood
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Dalcastle and Linda Heights, Meadowcreek Village & First Centerville
Commutes are longer.
Chandler Heights, Monica Park & Monica Park Heights
It is noisier.
Garland shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Garland's strengths and weaknesses
Garland lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A stable housing market, low taxes, and state finances carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Civic engagement, education levels, and thin health care access hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Garland ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of cities
- QuietBetter than 79% of cities
Where Garland ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Short commute29.6 minutes each way, better than only 22% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Garland
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,654, 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 Garland'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Garland
Garland 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 Garland.
Who works in Garland, and how
Work in Garland centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Garland
Garland has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Garland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Garland, month by month
Garland sees roughly 152 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 47° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 66° | 58° |
| July | 96° | 86° | 78° |
| October | 80° | 70° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Garland
Dallas Love Field sits about 13 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Garland
Schools across Garland average a B−, better than 55% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Kimberlin Acad For ExcelA+ · 74% proficient
- Walnut Glen Acad For ExcelA · 65% proficient
- Math/science/tech MagnetA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Murphy MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Austin Acad For ExcellA · 61% proficient
- Sunnyvale MiddleA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Plano East Sr H SA+ · 81% proficient
- Sunnyvale H SA · 68% proficient
- Rockwall-heath H SA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garland 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 Garland against the other 444 cities.
Who Garland suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Garland
Is Garland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garland ranks 274th of 445 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low taxes, and state finances, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $279,970. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $81,654 median income, cost of living beats 47% of cities.
Is Garland safe?
Garland is safer than 23% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $577 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Garland?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 39. That works out to about 152 pleasant days a year, more than 74% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Garland?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Coomer Creek & Buckingham North, Oakridge, Apollo Arapaho and Camelot & Springpark, and Northeast Garland, Country Brook & Valley Creek North. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Garland good for families?
Schools beat 55% of cities, crime safety beats 23%, and childcare runs $882 a month.
Is Garland good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 47% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 82% of cities. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Garland with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garland 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.
Garland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garland 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.