Best PlacesLavaca County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lavaca County, 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.
Lavaca County ranks 1,161st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lavaca 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 Lavaca County
The parts of Lavaca 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.
Shiner
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and schools score higher.
Hallettsville
Yoakum
Fewer adults hold degrees and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Lavaca County run from about the 18th to the 84th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lavaca County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lavaca County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 167 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of counties
- QuietBetter than 83% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of counties
Where Lavaca County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lavaca County
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lavaca County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,995, 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 Lavaca County's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lavaca County
Lavaca County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lavaca County.
Who works in Lavaca County, and how
Work in Lavaca County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lavaca County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lavaca County.
Is Lavaca County growing, and who is moving in?
Lavaca County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from DeWitt County, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lavaca County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lavaca County, month by month
Lavaca County sees roughly 167 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 61° |
| July | 97° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 85° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Lavaca County
The nearest airport, Victoria Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Austin-Bergstrom International, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lavaca County
Schools across Lavaca County average a B, better than 79% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Shiner ElA · 68% proficient
- Vysehrad ElA− · 62% proficient
- Weimar ElB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Weimar J HB · 43% proficient
- Hallettsville J HB · 43% proficient
- Yoakum J HB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Shiner H SA · 72% proficient
- Weimar H SA− · 60% proficient
- Hallettsville H SB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lavaca County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lavaca 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 Lavaca County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lavaca County suits
Common questions about living in Lavaca County
Is Lavaca County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lavaca County ranks 1,161st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and clean air, and lowest on summer heat and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lavaca County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,747. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $69,995 median income, cost of living beats 61% of counties.
Is Lavaca County safe?
Lavaca County is safer than 35% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $446 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lavaca County?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 65 with lows near 44. That works out to about 167 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lavaca County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Shiner, Hallettsville, and Yoakum. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Lavaca County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lavaca County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lavaca 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.
Lavaca County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lavaca County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lavaca County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lavaca County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lavaca County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lavaca 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.