Best PlacesLatch, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Latch, 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.
Latch ranks 30,588th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Latch
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.
Latch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Latch ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$574 a month, better than 81% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 71% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 62% of towns
Where Latch ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Latch
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Latch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,196, 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 Latch's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Latch
Latch's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Latch.
Who works in Latch, and how
Work in Latch centers on construction and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Latch
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Latch.
What the weather is like in Latch, month by month
Latch sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Latch
The nearest airport, East Texas Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Latch
Schools across Latch average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harmony ElB · 48% proficient
- Harmony IntB · 45% proficient
- Big Sandy ElC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Big Sandy J HB− · 42% proficient
- Gilmer IntC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Gilmer H SA− · 60% proficient
- Harmony H SB+ · 53% proficient
- Gladewater H SC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Latch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Latch 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 Latch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Latch
Is Latch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Latch ranks 30,588th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, affordable childcare, and state finances, and lowest on summer heat 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 Latch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,372. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $70,196 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Latch safe?
Latch is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $427 per resident a year.
Compare Latch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Latch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Latch 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.
Latch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Latch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Latch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Latch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Latch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Latch 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.