Best PlacesLeander, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Leander, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Leander ranks 85th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Leander
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.
Leander's strengths and weaknesses
Where Leander ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of cities
Where Leander ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 20% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 24% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Leander
A household needs to earn about $144,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Leander home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $135,670; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Leander's effective rate of 1.63%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Leander
Leander runs younger than the country, 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 Leander.
Who works in Leander, and how
Work in Leander centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Leander
Leander has more parkland per resident than 96% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Leander and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Leander, month by month
Leander sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 80° | 68° | 59° |
| July | 96° | 84° | 75° |
| October | 82° | 70° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Leander
Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 28 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.7 million passengers in 2025, with 127 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Leander
Schools across Leander average a B, better than 60% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Parkside ElA− · 56% proficient
- Monta Jane Akin ElA− · 56% proficient
- Serene Hills ElB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Florence W Stiles MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- Four Points MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Lake Travis MiddleA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Vandegrift H SA · 73% proficient
- Lake Travis H SA · 68% proficient
- Cedar Park H SA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Leander school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Leander 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 Leander against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Leander suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of cities and 29% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Leander
Is Leander a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Leander ranks 85th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, what local pay buys, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Leander expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $494,624. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $135,670 median income, cost of living beats 98% of cities.
Is Leander safe?
Yes, Leander is safer than 94% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Leander?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 42. That works out to about 161 pleasant days a year, more than 86% of cities.
Is Leander good for families?
Schools beat 60% of cities, crime safety beats 94%, and childcare runs $944 a month.
Compare Leander with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Leander. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Leander 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.
Leander detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Leander: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Leander: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Leander: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Leander: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Leander 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.