Best PlacesShafter, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shafter, 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.
Shafter ranks 48,326th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Shafter
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.
Shafter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shafter ranks high
- Short commute13.5 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
Where Shafter ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shafter
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shafter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $44,689, 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 Shafter's effective rate of 0.92%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Shafter
Shafter runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shafter.
Who works in Shafter, and how
Work in Shafter centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in Shafter
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shafter.
What the weather is like in Shafter, month by month
Shafter sees roughly 154 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 90° | 74° | 60° |
| July | 100° | 87° | 76° |
| October | 87° | 73° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Shafter
The nearest airport, Cavern City Air Terminal, is about 165 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 360 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shafter
Schools across Shafter average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Presidio ElD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lucy Rede Franco MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Presidio H SC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shafter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shafter 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 Shafter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shafter
Is Shafter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shafter ranks 48,326th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, quiet, and clean air, and lowest on crime and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shafter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $330,800. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $44,689 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Shafter safe?
Shafter is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,671 per resident a year.
Compare Shafter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shafter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shafter 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.
Shafter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shafter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shafter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shafter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shafter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shafter 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.