Best PlacesSterling City, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sterling City, 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.
Sterling City ranks 22,962nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sterling City
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.
Sterling City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sterling City ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap childcare$518 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Sterling City ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sterling City
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sterling City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,786, 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 Sterling City's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Sterling City
Sterling City 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 Sterling City.
Who works in Sterling City, and how
Work in Sterling City centers on public administration and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Sterling City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sterling City.
What the weather is like in Sterling City, month by month
Sterling City sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 43° | 32° |
| April | 81° | 65° | 52° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 66° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Sterling City
The nearest airport, San Angelo Regional/Mathis Field, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 218 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sterling City
Schools across Sterling City average a B−, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Forsan ElC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sterling City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sterling City 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 Sterling City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sterling City
Is Sterling City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sterling City ranks 22,962nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, walkability, and low taxes, and lowest on tree cover and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sterling City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $146,182. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $64,786 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Sterling City safe?
Sterling City is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $499 per resident a year.
Compare Sterling City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sterling City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sterling City 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.
Sterling City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sterling City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sterling City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sterling City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sterling City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sterling City 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.