Best PlacesLubbock, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Lubbock metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Scott W. Lang, via commons
Lubbock ranks 240th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on tree cover and crime. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Lubbock metro
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 Lubbock
The towns and districts of the Lubbock metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Wolfforth
More households have young kids, crime runs lower, and local pay stretches further.
Levelland
Fewer homes sit empty and schools score higher.
Shallowater
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Downtown Lubbock
Incomes run lower and fewer residents vote.
Slaton, Post & Tahoka
Fewer adults hold degrees and health outcomes score lower.
Idalou
Homes cost less, though heat risk is higher.
Lubbock shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lubbock's strengths and weaknesses
Lubbock lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Clean air and short commutes follow.
The one real hole is tree cover, near the bottom of the country. Crime and thin health care access also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Lubbock ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Short commute17.8 minutes each way, better than 96% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
Where Lubbock ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Lubbock
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lubbock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,036, 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 Lubbock's effective rate of 1.40%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lubbock
Lubbock runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lubbock.
Who works in Lubbock, and how
Work in Lubbock centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lubbock
Lubbock has more parkland per resident than 86% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 99% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lubbock and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lubbock growing, and who is moving in?
Lubbock has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dallas, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lubbock go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lubbock, month by month
Lubbock sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 40° | 26° |
| April | 81° | 62° | 45° |
| July | 97° | 83° | 70° |
| October | 80° | 63° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Lubbock
The nearest airport, Lubbock Preston Smith International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 285 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lubbock
Schools across Lubbock average a B−, better than 58% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Crestview ElA+ · 74% proficient
- Rise AcademyA · 68% proficient
- Shallowater IntA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shallowater MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Hutchinson MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Heritage MiddleA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Talkington School For Young Women LeadersA · 78% proficient
- Idalou H SA · 75% proficient
- Shallowater H SA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lubbock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lubbock 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 Lubbock against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Lubbock suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 82% of metro areas and it is quieter than 61%.
Common questions about living in Lubbock
Is Lubbock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lubbock ranks 240th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cell coverage, clean air, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lubbock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,941. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $73,036 median income, cost of living beats 41% of metro areas.
Is Lubbock safe?
Lubbock is safer than 4% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $645 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lubbock?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 26. That works out to about 137 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lubbock?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wolfforth, Levelland, and Shallowater. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lubbock good for families?
Schools beat 58% of metro areas, crime safety beats 4%, and childcare runs $672 a month.
Is Lubbock good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 41% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 64% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lubbock with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lubbock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lubbock 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.
Lubbock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lubbock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lubbock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lubbock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lubbock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lubbock 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.