Best PlacesNueces County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Nueces County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Nueces County ranks 1,521st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Its strengths are transit and cell coverage. The cost shows up in summer heat, civic engagement, and thin health care access.
The best neighborhoods in Nueces 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 Nueces County
The parts of Nueces 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.
Corpus Christi
Local pay stretches further, more adults hold degrees, and incomes run higher.
Port Aransas
More homes sit empty and prices have run up more.
Bishop
More households have young kids, though biking is worse.
Robstown
Schools score lower and streets are more car-dependent.
Nueces County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Nueces County's strengths and weaknesses
Nueces County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Cell coverage and the weather follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and thin health care access also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Nueces County ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 94% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of counties
Where Nueces County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Nueces County
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nueces County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,176, 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 Nueces County's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Nueces County
Nueces County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Nueces County.
Who works in Nueces County, and how
Work in Nueces County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Nueces County
Nueces County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of counties and more parkland per resident than 71% of counties. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Nueces County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Nueces County growing, and who is moving in?
Nueces County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Houston, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Nueces County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Nueces County, month by month
Nueces County sees roughly 178 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 53. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 60° | 53° |
| April | 83° | 75° | 70° |
| July | 92° | 86° | 81° |
| October | 86° | 78° | 72° |
Flying in and out of Nueces County
The nearest airport, Corpus Christi International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nueces County
Schools across Nueces County average a B, better than 76% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Windsor Park G/tA+ · 85% proficient
- Calallen Wood River ElB+ · 55% proficient
- Kolda ElB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- London MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Brundrett MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Seashore Middle AcadA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Port Aransas H SA · 73% proficient
- Collegiate H SA− · 67% proficient
- Calallen H SA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nueces County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nueces 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 Nueces County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Nueces County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Nueces County
Is Nueces County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nueces County ranks 1,521st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, cell coverage, and the weather, and lowest on summer heat and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nueces County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $224,564. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $74,176 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Nueces County safe?
Nueces County is safer than 11% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $679 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Nueces County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 53. That works out to about 178 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Nueces County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, and Bishop. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Nueces County good for families?
Schools beat 76% of counties, crime safety beats 11%, and childcare runs $702 a month.
Is Nueces County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 89% of counties. About 6% of workers already work from home.
Compare Nueces County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nueces County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nueces 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.
Nueces County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nueces County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nueces County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nueces County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nueces County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nueces 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.