Best PlacesPecos County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pecos County, 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.
Pecos County ranks 1,578th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pecos 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.
Pecos County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pecos County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 182 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of counties
Where Pecos County ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pecos County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pecos County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,863, 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 Pecos County's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 Pecos County
Pecos County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pecos County.
Who works in Pecos County, and how
Work in Pecos County centers on retail trade and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Pecos County
Pecos County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Pecos County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pecos County growing, and who is moving in?
Pecos County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Amarillo, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pecos County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pecos County, month by month
Pecos County sees roughly 182 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 47° | 36° |
| April | 85° | 68° | 55° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 72° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Pecos County
The nearest airport, Midland International Air And Space Port, is about 80 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 275 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pecos County
Schools across Pecos County average a C−, better than 16% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Fort Stockton Apache ElC− · 30% proficient
- Fort Stockton IntC− · 30% proficient
- Fort Stockton Alamo ElC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Iraan J HC · 32% proficient
- Fort Stockton MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Iraan H SB− · 40% proficient
- Fort Stockton HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pecos County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pecos 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 Pecos County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Pecos County
Is Pecos County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pecos County ranks 1,578th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, a stable housing market, and cell coverage, and lowest on thin health care access 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 Pecos County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,161. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $76,863 median income, cost of living beats 81% of counties.
Is Pecos County safe?
Pecos County is safer than 7% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $742 per resident a year.
Compare Pecos County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pecos County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pecos 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.
Pecos County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pecos County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pecos County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pecos County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pecos County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pecos 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.