Best PlacesMontgomery County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Montgomery County, 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.
Montgomery County ranks 398th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $110,857, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are air quality, property taxes, and long commutes.
The best neighborhoods in Montgomery 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.
The best areas in Montgomery County
The parts of Montgomery County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Magnolia & The Woodlands
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Montgomery
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
Oak Ridge North
Biking is better and schools score higher.
Conroe
It is noisier and prices have run up more.
Pinehurst
More residents vote and tree cover is thicker.
Spring, Porter & New Caney
Health care is harder to reach.
Willis
Homes cost less and fewer homes sit empty.
Splendora
Health outcomes score lower and disaster risk is higher.
Cleveland
Commutes are longer and advertised internet is slower.
Montgomery County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Montgomery County's strengths and weaknesses
Montgomery County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. A strong job market and high incomes follow.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and long commutes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Montgomery County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 97% of counties
- Household income$110,857 median, better than 95% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of counties
Where Montgomery County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of counties
- Short commute31.8 minutes each way, better than only 10% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Montgomery County
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montgomery County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $110,857, 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 Montgomery County's effective rate of 1.44%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Montgomery County
Montgomery County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Montgomery County.
Who works in Montgomery County, and how
Work in Montgomery County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Montgomery County
Montgomery County has less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 60 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Montgomery County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Montgomery County growing, and who is moving in?
Montgomery County has grown about 45% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Houston, TX metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Montgomery County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Montgomery County, month by month
Montgomery County sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 41° |
| April | 80° | 68° | 57° |
| July | 95° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 83° | 69° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Montgomery County
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 18 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.3 million passengers in 2025, with 214 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Montgomery County
Schools across Montgomery County average a B, better than 81% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- David ElA+ · 82% proficient
- Galatas ElA+ · 81% proficient
- Buckalew ElA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mccullough J HA+ · 83% proficient
- Mitchell IntA+ · 78% proficient
- Collins IntA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- The Woodlands H SA+ · 83% proficient
- Grand Oaks H SA · 73% proficient
- Tomball H SA · 72% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montgomery County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montgomery 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 Montgomery County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Montgomery County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Montgomery County
Is Montgomery County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montgomery County ranks 398th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, a strong job market, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montgomery County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $372,602. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $110,857 median income, cost of living beats 98% of counties.
Is Montgomery County safe?
Montgomery County is safer than 37% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $448 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Montgomery County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 41. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Montgomery County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Magnolia & The Woodlands, Montgomery, and Oak Ridge North. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Montgomery County good for families?
Schools beat 81% of counties, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Is Montgomery County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Montgomery County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montgomery County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montgomery 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.
Montgomery County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montgomery County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montgomery County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montgomery County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montgomery County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montgomery 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.