Best PlacesNew Caney, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Caney, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
New Caney ranks 34,787th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in New Caney
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.
New Caney's strengths and weaknesses
Where New Caney ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where New Caney ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Short commute39.7 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in New Caney
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Caney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,077, 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 New Caney's effective rate of 1.45%, 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 New Caney
New Caney 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 New Caney.
Who works in New Caney, and how
Work in New Caney centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in New Caney
New Caney has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 82% of towns. The coast is about 45 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of New Caney and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in New Caney, month by month
New Caney sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 54° | 43° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of New Caney
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 14 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 New Caney
Schools across New Caney average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shadow Forest ElB · 48% proficient
- Hidden Hollow ElB− · 43% proficient
- Milam ElB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverwood MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- Splendora J HC+ · 38% proficient
- Keefer Crossing MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Guy M Sconzo Early College H SA− · 65% proficient
- Infinity Early College H SA− · 63% proficient
- Hargrave H SB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Caney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Caney 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 New Caney against the other 50,332 towns.
Who New Caney suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in New Caney
Is New Caney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Caney ranks 34,787th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low taxes, and big-city access, and lowest on air quality and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is New Caney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,092. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $81,077 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is New Caney safe?
New Caney is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $514 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in New Caney?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 43. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of towns.
Is New Caney good for families?
Schools beat 30% of towns, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $842 a month.
Compare New Caney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Caney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Caney 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.
New Caney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Caney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Caney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Caney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Caney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Caney 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.