Best PlacesLone Star, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lone Star, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lone Star ranks 35,605th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lone Star
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.
Lone Star's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lone Star ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$558 a month, better than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
Where Lone Star ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- Household income$56,504 median, better than only 21% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lone Star
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lone Star home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,504, 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 Lone Star's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lone Star
Lone Star 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 Lone Star.
Who works in Lone Star, and how
Work in Lone Star centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Lone Star
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lone Star.
What the weather is like in Lone Star, month by month
Lone Star sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Lone Star
The nearest airport, East Texas Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lone Star
Schools across Lone Star average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hughes Springs ElB− · 43% proficient
- Pewitt ElC+ · 38% proficient
- South ElD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pittsburg IntA− · 58% proficient
- Hughes Springs J HB− · 41% proficient
- P E Wallace MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Hughes Springs H SA− · 62% proficient
- Mount Pleasant H SA− · 62% proficient
- Pittsburg H SB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lone Star school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lone Star 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 Lone Star against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lone Star
Is Lone Star a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lone Star ranks 35,605th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low taxes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lone Star expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,938. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $56,504 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Lone Star safe?
Lone Star is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $467 per resident a year.
Compare Lone Star with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lone Star. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lone Star 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.
Lone Star detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lone Star: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lone Star: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lone Star: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lone Star: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lone Star 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.