Best PlacesHouston, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Houston, 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.
Houston ranks 40,018th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Houston
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.
Houston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Houston ranks high
- Cheap childcare$349 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
Where Houston ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- Household income$49,088 median, better than only 11% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Houston
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Houston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,088, 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 Houston's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 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 Houston
Houston runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Houston.
Who works in Houston, and how
Work in Houston centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Houston
Houston has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Houston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Houston, month by month
Houston sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Houston
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Houston
Schools across Houston average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Licking Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- Houston Elem.C · 34% proficient
- Raymondville Elem.C · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cabool MiddleC− · 29% proficient
- Houston MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Licking HighC · 33% proficient
- Houston HighC · 32% proficient
- Cabool HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Houston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Houston 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 Houston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Houston
Is Houston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Houston ranks 40,018th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on crime and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Houston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $133,955. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $49,088 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Houston safe?
Houston is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $650 per resident a year.
Compare Houston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Houston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Houston 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.
Houston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Houston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Houston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Houston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Houston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Houston 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.