Best PlacesThe Colony, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around The Colony, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
The Colony ranks 218th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in The Colony
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 Colony's strengths and weaknesses
Where The Colony ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 198 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of cities
Where The Colony ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 26% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 29% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 29% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in The Colony
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median The Colony home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $133,456; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 The Colony's effective rate of 1.52%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in The Colony
The Colony's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for The Colony.
Who works in The Colony, and how
Work in The Colony centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in The Colony
The Colony has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of The Colony and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in The Colony, month by month
The Colony sees roughly 198 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 47° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 66° | 58° |
| July | 96° | 86° | 78° |
| October | 80° | 70° | 61° |
Flying in and out of The Colony
Dallas-Fort Worth International sits about 15 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 41.3 million passengers in 2025, with 289 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around The Colony
Schools across The Colony average a B, better than 62% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Castle Hills ElA · 69% proficient
- Hosp ElA− · 56% proficient
- Prestwick ElB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pearson MiddleA+ · 77% proficient
- Killian MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Arbor Creek MiddleA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Reedy H SA+ · 86% proficient
- Hebron H SA · 67% proficient
- The Colony H SB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every The Colony school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
The Colony 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 The Colony against the other 2,097 cities.
Who The Colony suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 25% already work from home.
Common questions about living in The Colony
Is The Colony a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, The Colony ranks 218th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on what local pay buys, the weather, and population health, and lowest on tree cover and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is The Colony expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $482,652. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $133,456 median income, cost of living beats 92% of cities.
Is The Colony safe?
Yes, The Colony is safer than 62% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in The Colony?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 39. That works out to about 198 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of cities.
Is The Colony good for families?
Schools beat 62% of cities, crime safety beats 62%, and childcare runs $863 a month.
Compare The Colony with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to The Colony. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in The Colony 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.
The Colony detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for The Colony: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in The Colony: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of The Colony: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in The Colony: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
The Colony 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.