Best PlacesMart, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mart, 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.
Mart ranks 23,260th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mart
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.
Mart's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mart ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 82% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
Where Mart ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mart
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mart home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,140, 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 Mart's effective rate of 0.95%, 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 Mart
Mart runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mart.
Who works in Mart, and how
Work in Mart centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mart
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mart.
What the weather is like in Mart, month by month
Mart sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 57° |
| July | 96° | 88° | 75° |
| October | 82° | 71° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Mart
The nearest airport, Waco Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mart
Schools across Mart average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Axtell ElB · 45% proficient
- Hallsburg SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Foster ElC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Axtell Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Groesbeck MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Axtell H SB · 48% proficient
- Mart H SB− · 42% proficient
- Groesbeck H SC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mart school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mart 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 Mart against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mart
Is Mart a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mart ranks 23,260th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, walkability, and low disaster risk, 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 Mart expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,845. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $72,140 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Mart safe?
Mart is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $489 per resident a year.
Compare Mart with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mart. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mart 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.
Mart detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mart: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mart: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mart: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mart: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mart 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.