Best PlacesValley Ranch, Irving, TX Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Valley Ranch, Irving, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Valley Ranch, Irving ranks 870th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#870
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Valley Ranch, Irving

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Valley Ranch, Irving area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Valley Ranch, Irving's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Population health
Top 10%An educated workforce
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Valley Ranch, Irving with other neighborhoods.

Where Valley Ranch, Irving ranks high

  • Health outlookBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
  • State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of neighborhoods

Where Valley Ranch, Irving ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of neighborhoods
  • Air qualityBetter than only 33% of neighborhoods
  • TransitBetter than only 37% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Valley Ranch, Irving

A household needs to earn about $157,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valley Ranch, Irving home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $116,980, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$157,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,653
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $527,557 home
Median rent
$1,892
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,690
Property tax$787
Homeowners insurance$176

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 Valley Ranch, Irving's effective rate of 1.79%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Valley Ranch, Irving

Valley Ranch, Irving runs younger than the country.

Median age
34
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
7%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1826%
18 to 3427%
35 to 4922%
50 to 6418%
65 and older7%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Valley Ranch, Irving.


Who works in Valley Ranch, Irving, and how

Work in Valley Ranch, Irving centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
34%
above the national average
Unemployment
4.1%
below the national average
Job growth
+2.4%
/y 2019-2023, near the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical28%
Finance & insurance14%
Retail trade9%
Transportation & warehousing8%
Health care & social7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 64%
  • Work from home 34%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in Valley Ranch, Irving

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Valley Ranch, Irving.

Places to eat and drink
94
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 33.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 55% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
5
about 1.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 60% of neighborhoods

What the weather is like in Valley Ranch, Irving, month by month

Valley Ranch, Irving sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January61°47°35°
April80°67°54°
July98°87°76°
October83°69°58°

Flying in and out of Valley Ranch, Irving

Dallas-Fort Worth International sits about 5 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 41.3 million passengers in 2025, with 289 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
DFW
Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 5 miles
Airport size
Large hub
2nd-busiest in the US, 289 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Valley Ranch, Irving

Schools across Valley Ranch, Irving average a B−, better than 73% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valley Ranch, Irving school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Valley Ranch, Irving 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 Valley Ranch, Irving against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Who Valley Ranch, Irving suits

Families

Schools beat 73% of neighborhoods and crime safety beats 75%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of neighborhoods, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 34% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 55% of neighborhoods and it is quieter than 78%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Valley Ranch, Irving

Is Valley Ranch, Irving a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valley Ranch, Irving ranks 870th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on population health, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys, and lowest on property taxes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Valley Ranch, Irving expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $527,557. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $116,980 median income, cost of living beats 88% of neighborhoods.

Is Valley Ranch, Irving safe?

Yes, Valley Ranch, Irving is safer than 75% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Valley Ranch, Irving?

July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 35. That works out to about 106 pleasant days a year, more than 55% of neighborhoods.

Is Valley Ranch, Irving good for families?

Schools beat 73% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $883 a month.


Compare Valley Ranch, Irving with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valley Ranch, Irving. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valley Ranch, Irving 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.

Valley Ranch, Irving detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Valley Ranch, Irving: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Valley Ranch, Irving: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Valley Ranch, Irving: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Valley Ranch, Irving: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Valley Ranch, Irving detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.