Best PlacesHighlands, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Highlands, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Highlands ranks 38,891st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Highlands
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.
Highlands' strengths and weaknesses
Where Highlands ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Highlands ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Highlands
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Highlands home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,585, 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 Highlands' effective rate of 1.20%, 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 Highlands
Highlands's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Highlands.
Who works in Highlands, and how
Work in Highlands centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Highlands
Highlands has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns. The coast is about 18 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Highlands and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Highlands, month by month
Highlands sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 55° | 48° |
| April | 79° | 71° | 63° |
| July | 93° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 82° | 73° | 66° |
Flying in and out of Highlands
William P Hobby sits about 18 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 Highlands
Schools across Highlands average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Deer Park ElA− · 55% proficient
- Banuelos ElC · 31% proficient
- Highlands ElC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Deer Park J HA · 62% proficient
- Highlands J HB · 43% proficient
- Aguirre J HC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Deer Park H SA− · 64% proficient
- Impact Early College H SA− · 62% proficient
- Crosby H SB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Highlands school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Highlands 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 Highlands against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Highlands
Is Highlands a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Highlands ranks 38,891st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, cell coverage, and low taxes, and lowest on air quality 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 Highlands expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $221,913. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $62,585 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Highlands safe?
Highlands is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $609 per resident a year.
Compare Highlands with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Highlands. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Highlands 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.
Highlands detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Highlands: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Highlands: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Highlands: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Highlands: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Highlands 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.