Best PlacesWaco, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Waco metro, 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.
Photo by HuecoBear, via commons
Waco ranks 231st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on affordable childcare and low taxes. The weaker spots are thin health care access, civic engagement, and transit.
The best neighborhoods in the Waco metro
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 Waco
The towns and districts of the Waco metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
McGregor, Lorena & Moody
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Hewitt, Woodway & Robinson
Fewer homes sit empty and schools score higher.
China Spring, Clifton & Valley Mills
It is quieter and more residents vote.
Marlin & Riesel
Prices have run up less, though advertised internet is slower.
Bellmead, Lacy-Lakeview & West
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
Downtown Waco
Streets are more walkable, though crime runs higher.
Mart
Heat risk is lower, though health care is harder to reach.
Waco shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Waco's strengths and weaknesses
Waco lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Affordable childcare, low taxes, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Thin health care access, civic engagement, and transit hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Waco ranks high
- Cheap childcare$619 a month, better than 91% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 141 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 83% of metro areas
Where Waco ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Waco
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waco home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,011, 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 Waco's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waco
Waco runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Waco.
Who works in Waco, and how
Work in Waco centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Waco
Waco has less parkland per resident than most metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Waco and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Waco growing, and who is moving in?
Waco has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dallas, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Waco go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Waco, month by month
Waco sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 57° |
| July | 96° | 88° | 75° |
| October | 82° | 71° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Waco
The nearest airport, Waco Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 91 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waco
Schools across Waco average a C+, better than 36% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- South Bosque ElA+ · 76% proficient
- West ElB+ · 53% proficient
- Castleman Creek ElB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Midway MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Lorena MiddleA · 60% proficient
- China Spring IntA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Lorena HighA · 73% proficient
- Midway H SA · 70% proficient
- China Spring H SA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waco school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waco 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 Waco against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Waco suits
Common questions about living in Waco
Is Waco a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waco ranks 231st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low taxes, and low disaster risk, and lowest on thin health care access and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waco expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $236,376. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $73,011 median income, cost of living beats 43% of metro areas.
Is Waco safe?
Waco is safer than 30% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $471 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Waco?
July highs average about 96 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 38. That works out to about 141 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Waco?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are McGregor, Lorena & Moody, Hewitt, Woodway & Robinson, and China Spring, Clifton & Valley Mills. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Waco good for families?
Schools beat 36% of metro areas, crime safety beats 30%, and childcare runs $619 a month.
Is Waco good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 43% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 57% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Waco with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waco. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waco 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.
Waco detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waco: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waco: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waco: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waco: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waco 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.