Best PlacesMurphy, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Murphy, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Murphy ranks 484th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Murphy
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.
Murphy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Murphy ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$182,020 median, better than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
Where Murphy ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Murphy
A household needs to earn about $158,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Murphy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $182,020, 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 Murphy's effective rate of 1.46%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Murphy
Murphy'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 Murphy.
Who works in Murphy, and how
Work in Murphy centers on professional & technical 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 66%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Murphy
Murphy has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Murphy and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Murphy, month by month
Murphy sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 75° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Murphy
Dallas Love Field sits about 18 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Murphy
Schools across Murphy average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tibbals ElA+ · 77% proficient
- Don Whitt ElA+ · 75% proficient
- R V Groves ElA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Raymond B Cooper J HA+ · 71% proficient
- Murphy MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Dr Al Draper IntermedA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Plano East Sr H SA+ · 81% proficient
- Wylie H SA · 71% proficient
- Sachse H SB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Murphy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Murphy 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 Murphy against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Murphy suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 32% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Murphy
Is Murphy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Murphy ranks 484th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Murphy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $555,886. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $182,020 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Murphy safe?
Murphy is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $351 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Murphy?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 35. That works out to about 106 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of towns.
Is Murphy good for families?
Schools beat 93% of towns, crime safety beats 53%, and childcare runs $863 a month.
Compare Murphy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Murphy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Murphy 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.
Murphy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Murphy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Murphy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Murphy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Murphy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Murphy 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.