Best PlacesStar, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Star, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Star ranks 11,272nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Star
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.
Star's strengths and weaknesses
Where Star ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of towns
Where Star ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute33.2 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Star
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Star home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $94,215; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Star's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Star
Star runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Star.
Who works in Star, and how
Work in Star centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Star
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Star.
What the weather is like in Star, month by month
Star sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| April | 79° | 65° | 53° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Star
The nearest airport, Robert Gray AAF, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Austin-Bergstrom International, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Star
Schools across Star average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Goldthwaite ElA− · 62% proficient
- San Saba ElC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Goldthwaite MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- San Saba MiddleC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Goldthwaite H SA · 73% proficient
- San Saba H SB− · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Star school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Star 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 Star against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Star
Is Star a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Star ranks 11,272nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, what local pay buys, and a strong job market, and lowest on summer heat and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Star expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $381,515. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $94,215 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Star safe?
Star is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $492 per resident a year.
Compare Star with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Star. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Star 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.
Star detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Star: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Star: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Star: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Star: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Star 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.