Best PlacesHale Center, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hale Center, 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.
Hale Center ranks 36,904th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hale Center
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.
Hale Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hale Center ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.7 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
Where Hale Center ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hale Center
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hale Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,496, 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 Hale Center's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hale Center
Hale Center runs older 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 Hale Center.
Who works in Hale Center, and how
Work in Hale Center centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hale Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hale Center.
What the weather is like in Hale Center, month by month
Hale Center sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 36° | 24° |
| April | 75° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 93° | 79° | 66° |
| October | 75° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Hale Center
The nearest airport, Lubbock Preston Smith International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 278 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hale Center
Schools across Hale Center average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Abernathy ElB · 47% proficient
- Hp Webb ElB− · 40% proficient
- Akin ElB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Abernathy MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Olton J HC− · 28% proficient
- Carr MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Abernathy H SB · 48% proficient
- Hale Center H SC+ · 40% proficient
- Olton H SC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hale Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hale Center 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 Hale Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hale Center
Is Hale Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hale Center ranks 36,904th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on education levels and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hale Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $91,329. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $57,496 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Hale Center safe?
Hale Center is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $529 per resident a year.
Compare Hale Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hale Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hale Center 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.
Hale Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hale Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hale Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hale Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hale Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hale Center 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.