Best PlacesTravis County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Travis County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Travis County ranks 54th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $114,668, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are summer heat, air quality, and property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Travis 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 Travis County
The parts of Travis 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.
Lakeway, The Hills & Bee Cave
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and schools score higher.
Leander, Cedar Park & Lago Vista
More adults hold degrees, though biking is worse.
Manchaca & Sunset Valley
More residents vote and health care is easier to reach.
Pflugerville
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Austin
Transit reaches more jobs and streets are more walkable.
Manor
Homes cost less.
Del Valle
Prices have run up less, though commutes are longer.
Travis County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Travis County's strengths and weaknesses
Travis County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Population health is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. What local pay buys and cell coverage follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and property taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Travis County ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 98% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
Where Travis County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,048 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Travis County
A household needs to earn about $172,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Travis County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $114,668, 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 Travis County's effective rate of 1.33%, 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 Travis County
Travis County runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Travis County.
Who works in Travis County, and how
Work in Travis County centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Travis County
Travis County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of counties and more parkland per resident than 83% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Travis County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Travis County growing, and who is moving in?
Travis County has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Austin, TX metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Travis County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Travis County, month by month
Travis County sees roughly 156 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 99 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 | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| July | 99° | 86° | 76° |
| October | 85° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Travis County
Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 10 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 Travis County
Schools across Travis County average a C+, better than 60% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Canyon Creek ElA+ · 80% proficient
- Laurel Mountain ElA+ · 76% proficient
- Laura Welch Bush ElA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hill Country MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- West Ridge MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- Canyon Ridge MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Lasa H SA+ · 99% proficient
- University Of Texas At Austin H SA+ · 90% proficient
- Westlake H SA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Travis County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Travis 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 Travis County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Travis County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 30% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Travis County
Is Travis County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Travis County ranks 54th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on population health, what local pay buys, and cell coverage, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Travis County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $614,243. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $114,668 median income, cost of living beats 99% of counties.
Is Travis County safe?
Yes, Travis County is safer than 60% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $380 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Travis County?
July highs average about 99 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 43. That works out to about 156 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Travis County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lakeway, The Hills & Bee Cave, Leander, Cedar Park & Lago Vista, and Manchaca & Sunset Valley. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Travis County good for families?
Schools beat 60% of counties, crime safety beats 60%, and childcare runs $1,048 a month.
Is Travis County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 99% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 94% of counties. About 30% of workers already work from home.
Compare Travis County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Travis County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Travis 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.
Travis County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Travis County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Travis County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Travis County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Travis County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Travis 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.