Best PlacesRicardo, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ricardo, 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.
Ricardo ranks 36,454th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ricardo
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.
Ricardo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ricardo ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 191 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
Where Ricardo ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ricardo
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ricardo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,212, 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 Ricardo's effective rate of 0.97%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Ricardo
Ricardo runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ricardo.
Who works in Ricardo, and how
Work in Ricardo centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Ricardo
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ricardo.
What the weather is like in Ricardo, month by month
Ricardo sees roughly 191 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| July | 97° | 86° | 76° |
| October | 88° | 75° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Ricardo
The nearest airport, Corpus Christi International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ricardo
Schools across Ricardo average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Santa Gertrudis SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Ricardo ElC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ricardo MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Santa Gertrudis Academy H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Kaufer H SC+ · 40% proficient
- H M King H SD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ricardo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ricardo 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 Ricardo against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ricardo
Is Ricardo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ricardo ranks 36,454th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, a strong job market, and low taxes, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ricardo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,006. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $66,212 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Ricardo safe?
Ricardo is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $404 per resident a year.
Compare Ricardo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ricardo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ricardo 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.
Ricardo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ricardo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ricardo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ricardo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ricardo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ricardo 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.