Best PlacesSan Marcos, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Marcos, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
San Marcos ranks 1,705th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Thin health care access pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low taxes.
The best neighborhoods in San Marcos
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 Marcos
The parts of San Marcos, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Oak Heights
Downtown Association & Victory Gardens
Forest Hills
Millview East
Sunset Acres
Blanco Gardens
Scores across San Marcos run from about the 3rd to the 77th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
San Marcos' strengths and weaknesses
Where San Marcos ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 150 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 80% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 71% of cities
Where San Marcos ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- Household income$58,196 median, better than only 6% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in San Marcos
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Marcos home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $58,196, 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 San Marcos' effective rate of 1.29%, 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 9 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 Marcos
San Marcos runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for San Marcos.
Who works in San Marcos, and how
Work in San Marcos centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in San Marcos
San Marcos has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of San Marcos and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in San Marcos, month by month
San Marcos sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 82° | 69° | 58° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 74° |
| October | 85° | 71° | 60° |
Flying in and out of San Marcos
Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 27 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.7 million passengers in 2025, with 127 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around San Marcos
Schools across San Marcos average a C, better than 22% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Hoffmann Lane ElA+ · 79% proficient
- Dripping Springs ElB+ · 52% proficient
- Navarro ElB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Church Hill MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Dripping Springs MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Danforth J HA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Memorial Early College H S With St Philip'sA+ · 82% proficient
- Dripping Springs H SA− · 65% proficient
- Wimberley H SA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Marcos school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Marcos 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 Marcos against the other 2,097 cities.
Who San Marcos suits
Families
Schools land around the 22nd percentile and crime safety beats 60%.
Common questions about living in San Marcos
Is San Marcos a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Marcos ranks 1,705th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low taxes, state finances, and the weather, and lowest on thin health care access and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Marcos expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $303,178. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $58,196 median income, cost of living beats 14% of cities.
Is San Marcos safe?
Yes, San Marcos is safer than 60% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $374 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in San Marcos?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 41. That works out to about 150 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in San Marcos?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Oak Heights, Downtown Association & Victory Gardens, and Forest Hills. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare San Marcos with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Marcos. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Marcos 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 Marcos detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Marcos: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Marcos: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Marcos: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Marcos: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Marcos 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.