Best PlacesPanhandle, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Panhandle, 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.
Panhandle ranks 12,441st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Panhandle
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.
Panhandle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Panhandle ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
Where Panhandle ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Panhandle
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Panhandle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,285, 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 Panhandle's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 Panhandle
Panhandle 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 Panhandle.
Who works in Panhandle, and how
Work in Panhandle centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Panhandle
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Panhandle.
What the weather is like in Panhandle, month by month
Panhandle sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 37° | 23° |
| April | 76° | 57° | 41° |
| July | 96° | 81° | 66° |
| October | 78° | 59° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Panhandle
The nearest airport, Rick Husband Amarillo International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 295 miles away.
The best schools in and around Panhandle
Schools across Panhandle average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Panhandle ElA · 63% proficient
- Highland Park ElC+ · 38% proficient
- Clarendon ElC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Panhandle J HA · 60% proficient
- Clarendon J HB+ · 52% proficient
- Highland Park MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Panhandle H SA · 70% proficient
- Clarendon H SA− · 60% proficient
- Highland Park H SB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Panhandle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Panhandle 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 Panhandle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Panhandle
Is Panhandle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Panhandle ranks 12,441st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, a stable housing market, and walkability, and lowest on noise and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Panhandle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,860. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $82,285 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Panhandle safe?
Panhandle is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
Compare Panhandle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Panhandle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Panhandle 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.
Panhandle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Panhandle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Panhandle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Panhandle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Panhandle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Panhandle 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.