Best PlacesMatador, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Matador, 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.
Matador ranks 26,847th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Matador
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.
Matador's strengths and weaknesses
Where Matador ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.0 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
Where Matador ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Matador
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Matador home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,735, 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 Matador's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Matador
Matador runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Matador.
Who works in Matador, and how
Work in Matador centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Matador
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Matador.
What the weather is like in Matador, month by month
Matador sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 41° | 30° |
| April | 79° | 62° | 49° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 73° |
| October | 79° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Matador
The nearest airport, Lubbock Preston Smith International, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 231 miles away.
The best schools in and around Matador
Schools across Matador average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top high schools
- Motley County SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Matador school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Matador 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 Matador against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Matador
Is Matador a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Matador ranks 26,847th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, clean air, and short commutes, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Matador expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $87,870. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $65,735 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Matador safe?
Matador is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $522 per resident a year.
Compare Matador with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Matador. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Matador 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.
Matador detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Matador: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Matador: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Matador: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Matador: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Matador 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.