Best PlacesZavala County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Zavala 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.
Zavala County ranks 3,044th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Zavala 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.
Zavala County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Zavala County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 193 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of counties
Where Zavala County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of counties
- Household income$37,387 median, better than only 1% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Zavala County
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Zavala County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,387, 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 Zavala County's effective rate of 1.31%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Zavala County
Zavala County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Zavala County.
Who works in Zavala County, and how
Work in Zavala County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Zavala County
Zavala County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Zavala County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Zavala County growing, and who is moving in?
Zavala County has lost about 25% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Dimmit County, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Zavala County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Zavala County, month by month
Zavala County sees roughly 193 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs October through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 55° | 44° |
| April | 90° | 76° | 64° |
| July | 102° | 89° | 78° |
| October | 86° | 74° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Zavala County
The nearest airport, Del Rio International, is about 80 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Zavala County
Schools across Zavala County average a D, better than 4% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- La Pryor ElD · 17% proficient
- Batesville SchoolD · 16% proficient
- Zavala ElD− · 14% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sterling H Fly Jr H SD− · 16% proficient
- Pearsall J HD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- La Pryor H SD · 23% proficient
- Pearsall H SD · 21% proficient
- Crystal City H SD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Zavala County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Zavala 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 Zavala County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Zavala County
Is Zavala County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Zavala County ranks 3,044th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and low taxes, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Zavala County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $97,556. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $37,387 median income, cost of living beats 1% of counties.
Is Zavala County safe?
Zavala County is safer than 3% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $811 per resident a year.
Compare Zavala County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Zavala County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Zavala 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.
Zavala County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Zavala County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Zavala County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Zavala County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Zavala County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Zavala 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.