Best PlacesMills County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Mills County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mills County ranks 1,211th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Summer heat pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Mills County
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.
Mills County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mills County ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 88% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 79% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of counties
Where Mills County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 26% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 27% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Mills County
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mills County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,601, 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 Mills County's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mills County
Mills County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mills County.
Who works in Mills County, and how
Work in Mills County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mills County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mills County.
Is Mills County growing, and who is moving in?
Mills County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from College Station, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Mills County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Mills County, month by month
Mills County sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 79° | 66° | 55° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 73° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Mills County
The nearest airport, Robert Gray AAF, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Austin-Bergstrom International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mills County
Schools across Mills County average a B+, better than 88% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Goldthwaite ElA− · 62% proficient
- Woodland Heights ElB+ · 53% proficient
- Early ElB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Goldthwaite MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Hamilton J HB+ · 50% proficient
- Brownwood MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Goldthwaite H SA · 73% proficient
- Hamilton H SA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mills County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mills County 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 Mills County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Mills County
Is Mills County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mills County ranks 1,211th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, good schools, and civic engagement, and lowest on summer heat and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mills County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,034. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $69,601 median income, cost of living beats 63% of counties.
Is Mills County safe?
Mills County is safer than 27% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $481 per resident a year.
Compare Mills County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mills County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mills County 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.
Mills County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mills County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mills County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mills County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mills County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mills County 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.