Best PlacesTelephone, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Telephone, 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.
Telephone ranks 27,262nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Telephone
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.
Telephone's strengths and weaknesses
Where Telephone ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap childcare$635 a month, better than 75% of towns
Where Telephone ranks low
- Short commute45.1 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Telephone
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Telephone home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,115, 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 Telephone's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Telephone
Telephone runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Telephone.
Who works in Telephone, and how
Work in Telephone centers on public administration and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Telephone
Telephone has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Telephone and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Telephone, month by month
Telephone sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Telephone
Dallas Love Field sits about 79 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Telephone
Schools across Telephone average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Honey Grove ElB+ · 55% proficient
- Sam Rayburn ElB− · 40% proficient
- Boswell EsD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Honey Grove MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Boswell MsF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Honey Grove H SB · 47% proficient
- Rayburn H SC+ · 37% proficient
- Boswell HsD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Telephone school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Telephone 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 Telephone against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Telephone
Is Telephone a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Telephone ranks 27,262nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, quiet, and state finances, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Telephone expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $239,297. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $77,115 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Telephone safe?
Yes, Telephone is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
Compare Telephone with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Telephone. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Telephone 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.
Telephone detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Telephone: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Telephone: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Telephone: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Telephone: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Telephone 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.