Best PlacesSan Antonio, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the San Antonio metro, 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.
Photo by Yinan Chen, Public Domain, via commons
San Antonio ranks 155th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cell coverage and low taxes. The weaker spots are thin health care access, civic engagement, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in the San Antonio metro
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 San Antonio
The towns and districts of the San Antonio metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Timberwood Park
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Boerne, Helotes & Fair Oaks Ranch
More residents vote, though homes cost more.
New Braunfels, Seguin & Cibolo
Schools score higher, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Downtown San Antonio
More households have young kids and heat risk is lower.
Converse
Scores close to Downtown San Antonio, except that tree cover is thinner here.
Floresville, La Vernia & Elmendorf
Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.
Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills & Castle Hills
Crime runs higher and more homes sit empty.
Hondo, Lackland AFB & Von Ormy
Health care is harder to reach.
Pleasanton & Jourdanton
Health outcomes score lower.
San Antonio shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
San Antonio's strengths and weaknesses
San Antonio lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage, low taxes, and transit carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Thin health care access, civic engagement, and summer heat hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where San Antonio ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 150 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of metro areas
Where San Antonio ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Short commute26.8 minutes each way, better than only 15% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in San Antonio
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Antonio home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,198, 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 San Antonio's effective rate of 1.43%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in San Antonio
San Antonio runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for San Antonio.
Who works in San Antonio, and how
Work in San Antonio centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in San Antonio
San Antonio has more parkland per resident than 69% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of San Antonio and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is San Antonio growing, and who is moving in?
San Antonio has grown about 19% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Houston, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving San Antonio go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in San Antonio, month by month
San Antonio sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 53° | 42° |
| April | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| July | 97° | 85° | 75° |
| October | 85° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of San Antonio
San Antonio International sits about 6 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 87 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around San Antonio
Schools across San Antonio average a C+, better than 43% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Hoffmann Lane ElA+ · 79% proficient
- Wilderness Oak ElA · 65% proficient
- Falls City ElA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Poth J HA+ · 73% proficient
- Lopez MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
- Voss MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Health Careers H SA+ · 91% proficient
- Basis San Antonio- Shavano CampusA+ · 85% proficient
- Memorial Early College H S With St Philip'sA+ · 82% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Antonio school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Antonio 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 San Antonio against the other 386 metro areas.
Who San Antonio suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 84% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in San Antonio
Is San Antonio a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Antonio ranks 155th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on cell coverage, low taxes, and transit, and lowest on thin health care access and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Antonio expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $297,704. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $86,198 median income, cost of living beats 84% of metro areas.
Is San Antonio safe?
San Antonio is safer than 46% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $409 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Antonio?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 42. That works out to about 150 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in San Antonio?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Timberwood Park, Boerne, Helotes & Fair Oaks Ranch, and New Braunfels, Seguin & Cibolo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is San Antonio good for families?
Schools beat 43% of metro areas, crime safety beats 46%, and childcare runs $783 a month.
Is San Antonio good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 84% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of metro areas. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare San Antonio with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Antonio. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Antonio 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.
San Antonio detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Antonio: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Antonio: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Antonio: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Antonio: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Antonio 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.