Best PlacesSour Lake, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sour Lake, 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.
Sour Lake ranks 13,642nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sour Lake
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.
Sour Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sour Lake ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$106,094 median, better than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 83% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
Where Sour Lake ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sour Lake
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sour Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $106,094, 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 Sour Lake's effective rate of 1.24%, 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 Sour Lake
Sour Lake 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 Sour Lake.
Who works in Sour Lake, and how
Work in Sour Lake centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Sour Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sour Lake.
What the weather is like in Sour Lake, month by month
Sour Lake sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 80° | 69° | 61° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 84° | 71° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Sour Lake
The nearest airport, Jack Brooks Regional, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sour Lake
Schools across Sour Lake average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Devers ElA+ · 75% proficient
- Sour Lake ElB− · 42% proficient
- China ElC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Devers JhA+ · 72% proficient
- Henderson MiddleA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Hardin-jefferson H SA · 69% proficient
- Liberty H SB · 48% proficient
- West Hardin H SD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sour Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sour Lake 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 Sour Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sour Lake
Is Sour Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sour Lake ranks 13,642nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, high incomes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on disaster risk and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sour Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,650. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $106,094 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Sour Lake safe?
Sour Lake is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $373 per resident a year.
Compare Sour Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sour Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sour Lake 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.
Sour Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sour Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sour Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sour Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sour Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sour Lake 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.