Best PlacesNolan, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nolan, 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.
Nolan ranks 23,878th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Nolan
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.
Nolan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nolan ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 136 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Nolan ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 13% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nolan
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nolan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,470, 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 Nolan's effective rate of 1.23%, 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 Nolan
Nolan runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Nolan.
Who works in Nolan, and how
Work in Nolan centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Nolan
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Nolan.
What the weather is like in Nolan, month by month
Nolan sees roughly 136 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 59, 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 | 59° | 45° | 35° |
| April | 81° | 65° | 54° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Nolan
The nearest airport, Abilene Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 190 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nolan
Schools across Nolan average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Merkel ElB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Merkel MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Sweetwater MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Merkel H SC+ · 35% proficient
- Sweetwater H SD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nolan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nolan 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 Nolan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nolan
Is Nolan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nolan ranks 23,878th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low taxes, and clean air, and lowest on disaster risk and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nolan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,568. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $79,470 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Nolan safe?
Nolan is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $478 per resident a year.
Compare Nolan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nolan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nolan 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.
Nolan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nolan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nolan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nolan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nolan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nolan 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.