Best PlacesTenaha, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tenaha, 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.
Tenaha ranks 39,667th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tenaha
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.
Tenaha's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tenaha ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$591 a month, better than 80% of towns
Where Tenaha ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Household income$47,895 median, better than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tenaha
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tenaha home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $47,895, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Tenaha's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Tenaha
Tenaha runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tenaha.
Who works in Tenaha, and how
Work in Tenaha centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Tenaha
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tenaha.
What the weather is like in Tenaha, month by month
Tenaha sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Tenaha
The nearest airport, East Texas Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tenaha
Schools across Tenaha average a C+, better than 45% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Carthage J HB− · 41% proficient
- Center MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Carthage H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Center H SC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tenaha school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tenaha 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 Tenaha against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tenaha
Is Tenaha a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tenaha ranks 39,667th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on education levels 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 Tenaha expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,176. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $47,895 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Tenaha safe?
Tenaha is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $475 per resident a year.
Compare Tenaha with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tenaha. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tenaha 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.
Tenaha detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tenaha: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tenaha: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tenaha: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tenaha: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tenaha 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.