Best PlacesMidland, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Midland metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Dclemens1971, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Midland ranks 129th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $101,810, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are tree cover, crime, and distance from a big city.
The best neighborhoods in the Midland 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 Midland
The towns and districts of the Midland 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.
Downtown Midland
Fewer homes sit empty, more households have young kids, and biking is better.
Stanton
Prices have run up less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Odessa
Local pay stretches less far and fewer residents vote.
Midland shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 12% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Midland's strengths and weaknesses
Midland lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. What local pay buys and a stable housing market follow.
The one real hole is tree cover, near the bottom of the country. Crime and distance from a big city also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Midland ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 94% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 165 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of metro areas
Where Midland ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 16% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Midland
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Midland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,810, 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 Midland's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Midland
Midland runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Midland.
Who works in Midland, and how
Work in Midland centers on mining & oil & gas and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Midland
Midland has more parkland per resident than 66% of metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Midland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Midland growing, and who is moving in?
Midland has grown about 16% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Odessa, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Midland go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Midland, month by month
Midland sees roughly 165 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 45° | 34° |
| April | 83° | 67° | 54° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Midland
The nearest airport, Midland International Air And Space Port, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 275 miles away.
The best schools in and around Midland
Schools across Midland average a B+, better than 94% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Carver CenterA+ · 91% proficient
- Midland Academy Charter SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Emerson ElB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Young Women's Leadership AcademyA+ · 74% proficient
- James R Brooks MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Stanton MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Early College H S At Midland CollegeA · 77% proficient
- George H W Bush New Tech OdessaB+ · 55% proficient
- Greenwood H SB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Midland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Midland 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 Midland against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Midland suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Midland
Is Midland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Midland ranks 129th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cell coverage, what local pay buys, and a stable housing market, 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 Midland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,537. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $101,810 median income, cost of living beats 98% of metro areas.
Is Midland safe?
Midland is safer than 2% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $695 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Midland?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 34. That works out to about 165 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Midland?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Midland, Stanton, and Odessa. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Midland good for families?
Schools beat 94% of metro areas, crime safety beats 2%, and childcare runs $706 a month.
Is Midland good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 73% of metro areas. About 6% of workers already work from home.
Compare Midland with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Midland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Midland 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.
Midland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Midland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Midland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Midland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Midland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Midland 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.