Best PlacesLittle Elm, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Little Elm, 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.
Little Elm ranks 331st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Little Elm
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.
Little Elm's strengths and weaknesses
Where Little Elm ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 93% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of cities
Where Little Elm ranks low
- Short commute35.4 minutes each way, better than only 5% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Little Elm
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Little Elm home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $133,440, 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 Little Elm's effective rate of 1.75%, 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 Little Elm
Little Elm 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 Little Elm.
Who works in Little Elm, and how
Work in Little Elm centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Little Elm
Little Elm has more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Little Elm and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Little Elm, month by month
Little Elm sees roughly 174 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 57, 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 | 57° | 47° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 66° | 58° |
| July | 96° | 86° | 78° |
| October | 80° | 70° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Little Elm
Dallas-Fort Worth International sits about 21 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 41.3 million passengers in 2025, with 289 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Little Elm
Schools across Little Elm average a B, better than 65% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Newman ElA− · 62% proficient
- Phillips ElA− · 57% proficient
- James A MonacoB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pioneer Heritage MiddleA+ · 83% proficient
- Griffin MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- Stafford MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Reedy H SA+ · 86% proficient
- Lone Star H SA− · 66% proficient
- Aubrey H SB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Little Elm school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Little Elm 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 Little Elm against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Little Elm suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 30% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Little Elm
Is Little Elm a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Little Elm ranks 331st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, a strong job market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on long commutes and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Little Elm expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $399,342. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $133,440 median income, cost of living beats 92% of cities.
Is Little Elm safe?
Yes, Little Elm is safer than 73% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Little Elm?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 39. That works out to about 174 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
Is Little Elm good for families?
Schools beat 65% of cities, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $863 a month.
Compare Little Elm with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Little Elm. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Little Elm 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.
Little Elm detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Little Elm: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Little Elm: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Little Elm: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Little Elm: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Little Elm 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.