Best PlacesWichita Falls, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Wichita Falls 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 Justin Cozart from Dallas, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Wichita Falls ranks 227th 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 short commutes and affordable childcare. The weaker spots are tree cover, air quality, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in the Wichita Falls 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 Wichita Falls
The towns and districts of the Wichita Falls 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.
Iowa Park, Burkburnett & Electra
It is quieter, schools score higher, and more residents vote.
Downtown Wichita Falls
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Henrietta
Prices have run up less, though commutes are longer.
Sheppard AFB
Heat risk is lower, though health care is harder to reach.
Wichita Falls 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.
Wichita Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Wichita Falls lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Short commutes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Affordable childcare and low taxes follow.
The one real hole is tree cover, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and civic engagement also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Wichita Falls ranks high
- Short commute16.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$596 a month, better than 93% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 81% of metro areas
Where Wichita Falls ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Wichita Falls
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wichita Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,704, 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 Wichita Falls' effective rate of 1.47%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls'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 Wichita Falls.
Who works in Wichita Falls, and how
Work in Wichita Falls 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 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 88% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wichita Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wichita Falls growing, and who is moving in?
Wichita Falls has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dallas, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wichita Falls go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wichita Falls, month by month
Wichita Falls sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 78° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Wichita Falls
The nearest airport, Sheppard AFB/Wichita Falls Municipal, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wichita Falls
Schools across Wichita Falls average a C+, better than 49% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Archer City ElA− · 60% proficient
- Sheppard Afb ElB+ · 53% proficient
- Holliday ElB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Holliday MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Henrietta MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- W F George MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Iowa Park H SA · 70% proficient
- Holliday H SA · 68% proficient
- Archer City H SB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wichita Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wichita Falls 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 Wichita Falls against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Wichita Falls suits
Families
Schools land around the 49th percentile and crime safety beats 69%.
Common questions about living in Wichita Falls
Is Wichita Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wichita Falls ranks 227th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on short commutes, affordable childcare, and low taxes, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wichita Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,153. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $70,704 median income, cost of living beats 38% of metro areas.
Is Wichita Falls safe?
Yes, Wichita Falls is safer than 69% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $349 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wichita Falls?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 33. That works out to about 128 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wichita Falls?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Iowa Park, Burkburnett & Electra, Downtown Wichita Falls, and Henrietta. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Wichita Falls good for families?
Schools beat 49% of metro areas, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $596 a month.
Is Wichita Falls good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 38% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 28% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Wichita Falls with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wichita Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wichita Falls 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.
Wichita Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wichita Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wichita Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wichita Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wichita Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wichita Falls 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.