Best PlacesRichardson, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Richardson, 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.
Richardson ranks 38th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on a stable housing market and an educated workforce. The weaker spots are property taxes, tree cover, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Richardson
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 Richardson
The parts of Richardson, 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.
Northeastern Richardson
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Eastern Richardson
Health care is easier to reach, though fewer households have young kids.
Southeastern Richardson
Prices have run up less, though heat risk is higher.
Southern Richardson
Fewer residents vote and schools score lower.
Far North Dallas-Richardson & Far North Dallas
Streets are more walkable, though more homes sit empty.
Richardson shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Richardson's strengths and weaknesses
Richardson ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. A stable housing market, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, tree cover, and air quality hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Richardson ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 195 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of cities
- BikingBetter than 85% of cities
Where Richardson ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 33% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 35% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 37% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Richardson
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Richardson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,163, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Richardson's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 Richardson
Richardson runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Richardson.
Who works in Richardson, and how
Work in Richardson centers on professional & technical and education. 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 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Richardson
Richardson has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Richardson and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Richardson, month by month
Richardson sees roughly 195 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 Richardson
Dallas Love Field sits about 11 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 Richardson
Schools across Richardson average a B, better than 76% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Canyon Creek ElA · 72% proficient
- Prairie Creek ElA · 68% proficient
- Bowie ElA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Murphy MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Otto MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Richardson North J HB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Plano East Sr H SA+ · 81% proficient
- Pearce H SB+ · 57% proficient
- Richardson H SB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Richardson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Richardson 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 Richardson against the other 444 cities.
Who Richardson suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Richardson
Is Richardson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Richardson ranks 38th of 445 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys, 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 Richardson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $431,711. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $106,163 median income, cost of living beats 86% of cities.
Is Richardson safe?
Richardson is safer than 41% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $490 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Richardson?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 39. That works out to about 195 pleasant days a year, more than 85% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Richardson?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Northeastern Richardson, Eastern Richardson, and Southeastern Richardson. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Richardson good for families?
Schools beat 76% of cities, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $876 a month.
Is Richardson good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 66% of cities. About 24% of workers already work from home.
Compare Richardson with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Richardson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Richardson 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.
Richardson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Richardson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Richardson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Richardson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Richardson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Richardson 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.