Best PlacesKilleen, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Killeen metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Victorenriqueagosto, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Killeen ranks 212th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cell coverage and affordable childcare. The weaker spots are civic engagement, thin health care access, and tree cover.
The best neighborhoods in the Killeen metro
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 Killeen
The towns and districts of the Killeen metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Troy & Morgans Point Resort
Crime runs lower, more residents vote, and incomes run higher.
Harker Heights & Salado
Local pay stretches further and fewer homes sit empty.
Lampasas & Kempner
Fewer households have young kids and biking is worse.
Temple
Heat risk is higher and it is noisier.
Belton
Commutes are shorter.
Copperas Cove & Fort Hood
Prices have run up less, though health care is harder to reach.
Downtown Killeen
Scores close to Copperas Cove & Fort Hood, except that streets are more walkable here.
Gatesville
Fewer adults hold degrees.
Nolanville
Advertised internet is faster, though schools score lower.
Killeen shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Killeen's strengths and weaknesses
Killeen lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage, affordable childcare, and low taxes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Civic engagement, thin health care access, and tree cover 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 Killeen ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$614 a month, better than 92% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of metro areas
Where Killeen ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 21% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Killeen
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Killeen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,125, 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 Killeen's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 Killeen
Killeen runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Killeen.
Who works in Killeen, and how
Work in Killeen centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Killeen
Killeen has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Killeen and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Killeen growing, and who is moving in?
Killeen has grown about 20% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Austin, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Killeen go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Killeen, month by month
Killeen sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 62, 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 | 62° | 49° | 39° |
| April | 80° | 68° | 57° |
| July | 97° | 85° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Killeen
The nearest airport, Robert Gray AAF, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Austin-Bergstrom International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Killeen
Schools across Killeen average a C+, better than 38% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Lakewood ElB+ · 55% proficient
- Montague Village ElB · 47% proficient
- C R Clements/hollie Parsons ElB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lampasas MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Salado MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- North Belton MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Salado H SB+ · 57% proficient
- Lampasas H SB+ · 54% proficient
- Harker Heights H SB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Killeen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Killeen 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 Killeen against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Killeen suits
Retirees
The weather beats 82% of metro areas and it is quieter than 57%.
Common questions about living in Killeen
Is Killeen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Killeen ranks 212th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cell coverage, affordable childcare, and low taxes, and lowest on civic engagement 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 Killeen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,673. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $75,125 median income, cost of living beats 54% of metro areas.
Is Killeen safe?
Killeen is safer than 38% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $441 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Killeen?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 39. That works out to about 138 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Killeen?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Troy & Morgans Point Resort, Harker Heights & Salado, and Lampasas & Kempner. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Killeen good for families?
Schools beat 38% of metro areas, crime safety beats 38%, and childcare runs $614 a month.
Is Killeen good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 54% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 56% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Killeen with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Killeen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Killeen 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.
Killeen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Killeen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Killeen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Killeen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Killeen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Killeen 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.