Best PlacesNopal, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nopal, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Nopal ranks 35,902nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Nopal
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.
Nopal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nopal ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 171 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
Where Nopal ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nopal
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nopal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,223, 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 Nopal's effective rate of 0.83%, 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 Nopal
Nopal 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 Nopal.
Who works in Nopal, and how
Work in Nopal centers on mining & oil & gas and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Nopal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Nopal.
What the weather is like in Nopal, month by month
Nopal sees roughly 171 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 61° |
| July | 97° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 85° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Nopal
The nearest airport, Victoria Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nopal
Schools across Nopal average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Westhoff ElB− · 40% proficient
- Nixon Smiley ElC · 35% proficient
- Yorktown ElD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Karnes City J HC+ · 35% proficient
- Nixon-smiley MiddleC · 34% proficient
- Yorktown J HD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Nixon-smiley H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Yorktown H SC+ · 40% proficient
- Karnes City H SC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nopal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nopal 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 Nopal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nopal
Is Nopal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nopal ranks 35,902nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and quiet, and lowest on summer heat and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nopal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,478. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $64,223 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Nopal safe?
Nopal is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $649 per resident a year.
Compare Nopal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nopal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nopal 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.
Nopal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nopal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nopal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nopal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nopal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nopal 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.