Best PlacesMission, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mission, 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.
Mission ranks 435th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on thin health care access and low incomes. It does better on quiet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Mission
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 Mission
The parts of Mission, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Sharyland Plantation
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and more residents vote.
West Sharyland
More households have young kids and heat risk is lower.
La Homa & Doffing
Homes cost less, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Mission run from about the 2nd to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Mission's strengths and weaknesses
Mission ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Quiet, affordable childcare, and low taxes carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: thin health care access, low incomes, and education levels all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Mission ranks high
- QuietBetter than 95% of cities
- Cheap childcare$664 a month, better than 94% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 183 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of cities
Where Mission ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- Household income$57,594 median, better than only 2% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 4% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 5% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Mission
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mission home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,594, 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 Mission's effective rate of 1.56%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mission
Mission runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mission.
Who works in Mission, and how
Work in Mission centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mission
Mission has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mission and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mission, month by month
Mission sees roughly 183 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 99 degrees. January highs sit near 74, with lows near 52. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74° | 62° | 52° |
| April | 90° | 77° | 69° |
| July | 99° | 87° | 78° |
| October | 90° | 78° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Mission
The nearest airport, McAllen International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 227 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mission
Schools across Mission average a C, better than 24% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Harry Shimotsu ElB · 46% proficient
- R C Flores-mark A Zapata ElC+ · 35% proficient
- Dr Alejo Salinas Jr ElC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- B L Gray J HB+ · 52% proficient
- Sharyland North J HB− · 41% proficient
- Cesar Chavez MiddleC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Sharyland Advanced Academic AcademyA− · 63% proficient
- Thelma Rosa Salinas Stem Early College H SB+ · 52% proficient
- Sharyland H SB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mission school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mission 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 Mission against the other 444 cities.
Who Mission suits
Common questions about living in Mission
Is Mission a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mission ranks 435th of 445 cities. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and low taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mission expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,862. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $57,594 median income, cost of living beats 13% of cities.
Is Mission safe?
Mission is safer than 44% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $479 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mission?
July highs average about 99 degrees, and January highs near 74 with lows near 52. That works out to about 183 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Mission?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sharyland Plantation, West Sharyland, and La Homa & Doffing. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Mission good for families?
Schools beat 24% of cities, crime safety beats 44%, and childcare runs $664 a month.
Is Mission good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 13% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 45% of cities. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Mission with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mission. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mission 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.
Mission detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mission: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mission: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mission: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mission: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mission 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.