Best PlacesPotter County, TX Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Potter 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Potter County ranks 2,117th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on civic engagement and thin health care access. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.

#2,117
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Potter County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Potter County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Potter County's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Cell coverage
Top 5%Biking
Top 10%Transit

Potter County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Biking and transit follow.

The one real hole is civic engagement, near the bottom of the country. Thin health care access and education levels also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Potter County with other counties.

Where Potter County ranks high

  • Cell coverageBetter than 99% of counties
  • BikingBetter than 96% of counties
  • TransitBetter than 91% of counties
  • WalkabilityBetter than 90% of counties
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties

Where Potter County ranks low

  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of counties
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of counties
  • Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of counties
  • QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Potter County

A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Potter County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,756, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$47,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,091
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $166,187 home
Median rent
$1,038
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$847
Property tax$188
Homeowners insurance$55

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 Potter County'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Potter County

Potter County runs younger than the country.

Median age
36
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1825%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6418%
65 and older15%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Potter County.


Who works in Potter County, and how

Work in Potter County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
7%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.6%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.8%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Manufacturing13%
Retail trade12%
Construction10%
Hospitality & food9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 89%
  • Work from home 7%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in Potter County

Potter County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of counties and more parkland per resident than 80% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Potter County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
730
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 61.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 72% of counties
Coffee shops
83
about 7.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 67% of counties
Parkland
988 acres
about 8.3 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 80% of counties
Open past 10pm
~224
food and drink venues open late, about 18.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 97% of counties

Is Potter County growing, and who is moving in?

Potter County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Amarillo, TX metro.

Population growth
-6%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
114,649
down from 122,061
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

The rest of the Amarillo, TX metro3,088 / yr
Dallas, TX432 / yr
San Antonio, TX281 / yr
Phoenix, AZ270 / yr
Moore County, TX195 / yr

Where people leaving Potter County go

The rest of the Amarillo, TX metro5,929 / yr
Dallas, TX631 / yr
Lubbock, TX503 / yr
Houston, TX238 / yr
Pecos County, TX204 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Potter County, month by month

Potter County sees roughly 127 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.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January55°37°23°
April76°57°41°
July96°81°66°
October78°59°45°

Flying in and out of Potter County

The nearest airport, Rick Husband Amarillo International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 270 miles away.

Nearest airport
AMA
Rick Husband Amarillo International, about 8 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
153rd-busiest in the US, 19 nonstop destinations
Average drive
11 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Potter County

Schools across Potter County average a C, better than 47% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Potter County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Potter 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 Potter County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Potter County suits

Families

Schools land around the 47th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 80% of counties.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Potter County

Is Potter County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Potter County ranks 2,117th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, biking, and transit, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Potter County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $166,187. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $63,756 median income, cost of living beats 60% of counties.

Is Potter County safe?

Potter County is safer than 10% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $685 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Potter County?

July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 55 with lows near 23. That works out to about 127 pleasant days a year, more than 80% of counties.

Is Potter County good for families?

Schools beat 47% of counties, crime safety beats 10%, and childcare runs $678 a month.

Is Potter County good for remote workers?

Cost of living against local pay beats 60% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 89% of counties. About 7% of workers already work from home.


Compare Potter County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Potter County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Potter 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.

Potter County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Potter County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Potter County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Potter County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Potter County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Potter County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.