Best PlacesSheldon, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sheldon, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sheldon ranks 46,034th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sheldon
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.
Sheldon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sheldon ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Sheldon ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sheldon
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sheldon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $65,622, 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 Sheldon's effective rate of 1.93%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sheldon
Sheldon runs younger than the country, 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 Sheldon.
Who works in Sheldon, and how
Work in Sheldon centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Sheldon
The coast is about 22 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sheldon, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sheldon, month by month
Sheldon sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 54° | 43° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Sheldon
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 15 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.3 million passengers in 2025, with 214 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Sheldon
Schools across Sheldon average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sheldon ElD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Michael R Null MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- C E King H SC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sheldon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sheldon 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 Sheldon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sheldon
Is Sheldon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sheldon ranks 46,034th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, few empty homes, and population health, and lowest on thin health care access and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sheldon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,600. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $65,622 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Sheldon safe?
Sheldon is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $568 per resident a year.
Compare Sheldon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sheldon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sheldon 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.
Sheldon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sheldon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sheldon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sheldon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sheldon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sheldon 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.