Best PlacesHarris County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Harris 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.
Harris County ranks 1,388th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $87,439, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are air quality, civic engagement, and thin health care access.
The best neighborhoods in Harris 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 Harris County
The parts of Harris 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
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and local pay stretches further.
Cypress, Spring & Tomball
Incomes run higher, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Humble & Atascocita
More households have young kids, though streets are more car-dependent.
West University Place & Bellaire
Biking is better, though crime runs higher.
Pasadena
Homes cost less and prices have run up less.
Houston
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Aldine
Health outcomes score lower.
Baytown, Channelview & Cloverleaf
Scores close to Aldine, except that more homes sit empty here.
Harris County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Harris County's strengths and weaknesses
Harris County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Big-city access and transit follow.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and thin health care access also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Harris County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of counties
- TransitBetter than 96% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of counties
Where Harris County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Harris County
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harris County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $87,439; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Harris County's effective rate of 1.43%, 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 Harris County
Harris 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 Harris County.
Who works in Harris County, and how
Work in Harris County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Harris County
Harris County has more late-night spots per resident than 67% of counties. The coast is about 35 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Harris County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Harris County growing, and who is moving in?
Harris County has grown about 12% 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 Harris County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Harris County, month by month
Harris County sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 49. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 55° | 49° |
| April | 80° | 71° | 64° |
| July | 94° | 85° | 79° |
| October | 83° | 74° | 67° |
Flying in and out of Harris County
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 13 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.3 million passengers in 2025, with 214 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Harris County
Schools across Harris County average a C+, better than 52% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Creekside Forest ElA+ · 90% proficient
- West University ElA+ · 85% proficient
- Hazel S Pattison ElA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Smith MiddleA+ · 81% proficient
- Garland Mcmeans J HA+ · 80% proficient
- Lanier MiddleA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- Debakey H S For Health ProfA+ · 93% proficient
- Carnegie Vanguard H SA+ · 91% proficient
- Tomball Star AcademyA+ · 91% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harris County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harris 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 Harris County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Harris County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Harris County
Is Harris County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harris County ranks 1,388th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harris County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $321,488. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $87,439 median income, cost of living beats 90% of counties.
Is Harris County safe?
Harris County is safer than 14% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $644 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Harris County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 49. That works out to about 122 pleasant days a year, more than 76% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Harris County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Katy, Cypress, Spring & Tomball, and Humble & Atascocita. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Harris County good for families?
Schools beat 52% of counties, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Is Harris County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 93% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Harris County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harris County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harris 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.
Harris County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harris County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harris County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harris County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harris County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harris 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.