Best PlacesWillow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston ranks 4,334th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston
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.
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$842 a month, better than 83% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of neighborhoods
Where Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 13% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,237, 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 Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston's effective rate of 1.25%, 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 Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston.
Who works in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston, and how
Work in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 23%
Life in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston
The coast is about 27 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston, month by month
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 49. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 55° | 49° |
| April | 80° | 71° | 64° |
| July | 94° | 85° | 79° |
| October | 83° | 74° | 67° |
Flying in and out of Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston
William P Hobby sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 101 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston
Schools across Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston average a C−, better than 28% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Shearn ElD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pershing MiddleB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Bellaire H SB+ · 55% proficient
- Harmony School Of Ingenuity-houstonC− · 28% proficient
- Westbury H SD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston 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 Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston
Is Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston ranks 4,334th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state finances, and low taxes, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $303,369. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $70,237 median income, cost of living beats 55% of neighborhoods.
Is Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston safe?
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston is safer than 19% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $867 per resident a year.
Compare Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston 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.
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willow Meadows-Willowbend Area, Houston 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.
- 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.