Best PlacesString Prairie, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around String Prairie, 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.
String Prairie ranks 19,643rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in String Prairie
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.
String Prairie's strengths and weaknesses
Where String Prairie ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 163 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
Where String Prairie ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in String Prairie
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median String Prairie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,506, 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 String Prairie's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in String Prairie
String Prairie runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for String Prairie.
Who works in String Prairie, and how
Work in String Prairie centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in String Prairie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across String Prairie.
What the weather is like in String Prairie, month by month
String Prairie sees roughly 163 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 64, 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 | 64° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 81° | 70° | 61° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 76° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of String Prairie
Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 28 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.7 million passengers in 2025, with 127 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around String Prairie
Schools across String Prairie average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Smithville ElB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Smithville J HB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Smithville H SB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every String Prairie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
String Prairie 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 String Prairie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in String Prairie
Is String Prairie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, String Prairie ranks 19,643rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and state finances, and lowest on biking and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is String Prairie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $211,499. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $68,506 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is String Prairie safe?
String Prairie is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $349 per resident a year.
Compare String Prairie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to String Prairie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in String Prairie 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.
String Prairie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for String Prairie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in String Prairie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of String Prairie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in String Prairie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
String Prairie 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.