Best PlacesPandora, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pandora, 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.
Pandora ranks 38,795th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pandora
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.
Pandora's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pandora ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 156 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- QuietBetter than 74% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 72% of towns
Where Pandora ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$32,501 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pandora
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pandora home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $32,501, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Pandora's effective rate of 0.88%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Pandora
Pandora runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pandora.
Who works in Pandora, and how
Work in Pandora centers on hospitality & food and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Pandora
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pandora.
What the weather is like in Pandora, month by month
Pandora sees roughly 156 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 75° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Pandora
San Antonio International sits about 41 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 87 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pandora
Schools across Pandora average a B, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stockdale ElC+ · 38% proficient
- Nixon Smiley ElC · 35% proficient
- Roger E Sides ElD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stockdale J HB+ · 49% proficient
- Karnes City J HC+ · 35% proficient
- Nixon-smiley MiddleC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Nixon-smiley H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Stockdale H SB− · 43% proficient
- Karnes City H SC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pandora school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pandora 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 Pandora against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pandora
Is Pandora a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pandora ranks 38,795th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and state finances, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pandora expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $280,355. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $32,501 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Pandora safe?
Pandora is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.
Compare Pandora with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pandora. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pandora 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.
Pandora detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pandora: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pandora: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pandora: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pandora: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pandora 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.