Best PlacesPlano, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plano, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Plano ranks 19th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $131,315, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are property taxes, tree cover, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Plano
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 Plano
The parts of Plano, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
The Canal on Preston & Legacy Town Center North
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and heat risk is lower.
Western Plano
Local pay stretches further and incomes run higher.
Southwestern Plano
Prices have run up more and fewer households have young kids.
Downtown Plano
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Northeastern Plano
Transit reaches fewer jobs and streets are more car-dependent.
Scores across Plano run from about the 17th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Plano's strengths and weaknesses
Plano ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys, high incomes, and an educated workforce carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, tree cover, and summer heat hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Plano ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of cities
- Household income$131,315 median, better than 92% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of cities
Where Plano ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 34% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 35% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 36% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Plano
A household needs to earn about $141,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plano home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $131,315; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Plano's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Plano
Plano'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 Plano.
Who works in Plano, and how
Work in Plano centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Plano
Plano has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Plano and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Plano, month by month
Plano sees roughly 187 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 47° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 66° | 58° |
| July | 96° | 86° | 78° |
| October | 80° | 70° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Plano
Dallas Love Field sits about 16 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Plano
Schools across Plano average a B, better than 78% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Skaggs ElA+ · 78% proficient
- Wyatt ElA+ · 77% proficient
- Mary Evans ElA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fowler MiddleA+ · 86% proficient
- C M Rice MiddleA+ · 79% proficient
- Vandeventer MiddleA+ · 76% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberty H SA+ · 82% proficient
- Plano East Sr H SA+ · 81% proficient
- Plano Isd Academy H SA · 77% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plano school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plano 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 Plano against the other 444 cities.
Who Plano suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 28% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 84% of cities, health care access beats 75%, and it is quieter than 79%.
Common questions about living in Plano
Is Plano a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plano ranks 19th of 445 cities. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plano expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $499,478. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $131,315 median income, cost of living beats 95% of cities.
Is Plano safe?
Yes, Plano is safer than 58% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $416 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Plano?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 39. That works out to about 187 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Plano?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are The Canal on Preston & Legacy Town Center North, Western Plano, and Southwestern Plano. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Plano good for families?
Schools beat 78% of cities, crime safety beats 58%, and childcare runs $863 a month.
Is Plano good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of cities. About 28% of workers already work from home.
Compare Plano with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plano. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plano 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.
Plano detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plano: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plano: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plano: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plano: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plano 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.