Best PlacesTaylor County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Taylor County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Taylor County ranks 1,192nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on civic engagement and thin health care access. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Taylor County
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.
The best areas in Taylor County
The parts of Taylor County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Tuscola, Buffalo Gap & Dyess AFB
It is quieter, more households have young kids, and crime runs lower.
Abilene
Incomes run higher and local pay stretches further.
Merkel
Homes cost less, though more homes sit empty.
Taylor County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 10%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Taylor County's strengths and weaknesses
Taylor County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Short commutes and low taxes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Civic engagement, thin health care access, and tree cover hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Taylor County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 90% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 81% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 80% of counties
Where Taylor County ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Taylor County
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Taylor County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,084, 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 Taylor County's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 Taylor County
Taylor County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Taylor County.
Who works in Taylor County, and how
Work in Taylor County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Taylor County
Taylor County has more late-night spots per resident than 83% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Taylor County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Taylor County growing, and who is moving in?
Taylor County has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dallas, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Taylor County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Taylor County, month by month
Taylor County sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 45° | 32° |
| April | 82° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 73° |
| October | 83° | 67° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Taylor County
The nearest airport, Abilene Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Taylor County
Schools across Taylor County average a B−, better than 60% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Wylie West IntA · 64% proficient
- Wylie East ElA− · 58% proficient
- Buffalo Gap ElB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wylie East J HA · 65% proficient
- Jim Ned MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Wylie West J HA · 61% proficient
Top high schools
- Premier H S Of AbileneA · 75% proficient
- Wylie H SA · 71% proficient
- Academy For Technology Engineering Math & ScienceA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Taylor County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Taylor County 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 Taylor County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Taylor County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Taylor County
Is Taylor County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Taylor County ranks 1,192nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, short commutes, and low taxes, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Taylor County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,525. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $75,084 median income, cost of living beats 70% of counties.
Is Taylor County safe?
Taylor County is safer than 23% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $544 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Taylor County?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 32. That works out to about 107 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Taylor County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Tuscola, Buffalo Gap & Dyess AFB, Abilene, and Merkel. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Taylor County good for families?
Schools beat 60% of counties, crime safety beats 23%, and childcare runs $571 a month.
Is Taylor County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 70% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Taylor County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Taylor County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Taylor County 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.
Taylor County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Taylor County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Taylor County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Taylor County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Taylor County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Taylor County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.