Best PlacesVal Verde County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Val Verde County, 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.
Val Verde County ranks 1,666th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Val Verde 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.
Val Verde County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Val Verde County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 179 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of counties
Where Val Verde County ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Val Verde County
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Val Verde County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,760, 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 Val Verde County's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Val Verde County
Val Verde County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Val Verde County.
Who works in Val Verde County, and how
Work in Val Verde County centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Val Verde County
Val Verde County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of counties and more parkland per resident than 78% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Val Verde County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Val Verde County growing, and who is moving in?
Val Verde County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Starr County, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Val Verde County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Val Verde County, month by month
Val Verde County sees roughly 179 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 101 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 53° | 40° |
| April | 89° | 74° | 60° |
| July | 101° | 88° | 77° |
| October | 87° | 74° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Val Verde County
The nearest airport, Del Rio International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Val Verde County
Schools across Val Verde County average a C−, better than 25% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Roberto Bobby Barrera El Stem MagnetA · 68% proficient
- Buena Vista ElC · 31% proficient
- Dr Lonnie Green Jr ElC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Del Rio MiddleC · 33% proficient
- San Felipe Memorial MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
- Heritage Academy Of Del Rio MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Del Rio Early College H SB · 48% proficient
- Premier H S Of Del RioB− · 42% proficient
- Del Rio H SC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Val Verde County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Val Verde 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 Val Verde County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Val Verde County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Val Verde County
Is Val Verde County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Val Verde County ranks 1,666th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and fast internet, and lowest on thin health care access and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Val Verde County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,773. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $67,760 median income, cost of living beats 55% of counties.
Is Val Verde County safe?
Val Verde County is safer than 42% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $438 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Val Verde County?
July highs average about 101 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 40. That works out to about 179 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of counties.
Is Val Verde County good for families?
Schools beat 25% of counties, crime safety beats 42%, and childcare runs $604 a month.
Compare Val Verde County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Val Verde County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Val Verde 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.
Val Verde County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Val Verde County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Val Verde County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Val Verde County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Val Verde County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Val Verde 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.