QoL Rank
Loading map…

Texas

Texas has a quality of life score of 46/100 (C, average) and ranks #34 of 51 states. Its strongest category is education (64) and its weakest is quality of life (34). Its top-rated larger counties are Williamson County, Rockwall County, Randall County.

  • Safety: 42
  • Cost of living: 44
  • Education: 64
  • Quality of life: 34

Key figures: violent crime 369.5 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,403 a month; median home value $283,800; median household income $75,778; life expectancy 76.7 years.

Counties in Texas, best first

  1. Oldham County 74
  2. Glasscock County 73
  3. Hansford County 72
  4. Sherman County 71
  5. Parmer County 69
  6. Knox County 69
  7. Brewster County 67
  8. Williamson County 66
  9. Shackelford County 65
  10. Menard County 65
  11. Rockwall County 65
  12. Randall County 65
  13. Kendall County 64
  14. Fisher County 64
  15. Hall County 63
  16. Collin County 63
  17. Moore County 63
  18. Donley County 63
  19. Culberson County 62
  20. Scurry County 62
  21. Ochiltree County 61
  22. Lynn County 61
  23. Somervell County 61
  24. La Salle County 61
  25. Mason County 61
  26. Schleicher County 61
  27. Blanco County 60
  28. Guadalupe County 60
  29. Young County 60
  30. Concho County 60
  31. Jeff Davis County 60
  32. Castro County 59
  33. Denton County 59
  34. Garza County 59
  35. Franklin County 59
  36. Reagan County 59
  37. Gillespie County 59
  38. Brazos County 59
  39. Crane County 59
  40. Carson County 59
  41. Comal County 59
  42. Erath County 59
  43. Kerr County 59
  44. Lamb County 59
  45. Mills County 59
  46. Upton County 58
  47. Deaf Smith County 58
  48. Kinney County 58
  49. Archer County 58
  50. Lipscomb County 58
  51. Armstrong County 57
  52. Irion County 57
  53. Travis County 57
  54. Andrews County 57
  55. Tom Green County 57
  56. Coryell County 57
  57. Haskell County 57
  58. Pecos County 57
  59. Frio County 57
  60. Live Oak County 57
  61. Hartley County 56
  62. Gaines County 56
  63. Fayette County 56
  64. Parker County 56
  65. Clay County 56
  66. Hockley County 56
  67. Collingsworth County 55
  68. Fort Bend County 55
  69. Cooke County 55
  70. Smith County 55
  71. Comanche County 55
  72. Wichita County 55
  73. Runnels County 55
  74. Yoakum County 55
  75. Montgomery County 55
  76. Callahan County 54
  77. Taylor County 54
  78. Wilson County 54
  79. Brazoria County 54
  80. Calhoun County 54
  81. Chambers County 54
  82. Ellis County 54
  83. Nolan County 54
  84. Hutchinson County 54
  85. Webb County 54
  86. Cochran County 54
  87. El Paso County 54
  88. Presidio County 54
  89. Childress County 53
  90. Lavaca County 53
  91. Hardin County 53
  92. Ward County 53
  93. Burleson County 53
  94. Washington County 53
  95. Hudspeth County 52
  96. Hardeman County 52
  97. Lubbock County 52
  98. Bosque County 52
  99. Falls County 52
  100. Val Verde County 52
  101. Dallam County 52
  102. Lampasas County 52
  103. Hood County 52
  104. Rains County 52
  105. Grayson County 52
  106. Maverick County 51
  107. Robertson County 51
  108. Mitchell County 51
  109. Hidalgo County 51
  110. Winkler County 51
  111. Midland County 51
  112. Wheeler County 51
  113. Martin County 51
  114. Medina County 51
  115. Zapata County 50
  116. Hale County 50
  117. Cameron County 50
  118. Johnson County 50
  119. Titus County 50
  120. Bell County 50
  121. Hays County 50
  122. Wise County 50
  123. Burnet County 49
  124. Upshur County 49
  125. Shelby County 49
  126. McCulloch County 49
  127. Van Zandt County 49
  128. Coke County 49
  129. Hemphill County 49
  130. Bailey County 49
  131. Eastland County 49
  132. Gray County 49
  133. Hamilton County 49
  134. Jackson County 49
  135. Sabine County 48
  136. Gregg County 48
  137. Trinity County 48
  138. Panola County 48
  139. Crockett County 48
  140. Colorado County 48
  141. McLennan County 48
  142. Bandera County 48
  143. Briscoe County 48
  144. Lamar County 48
  145. Madison County 48
  146. Cherokee County 48
  147. Goliad County 48
  148. Angelina County 48
  149. Leon County 48
  150. San Saba County 47
  151. Starr County 47
  152. Terry County 47
  153. Dimmit County 47
  154. Galveston County 47
  155. Floyd County 47
  156. Brown County 47
  157. Jack County 46
  158. Jim Hogg County 46
  159. Kaufman County 46
  160. Hopkins County 46
  161. Baylor County 46
  162. Camp County 46
  163. Rusk County 46
  164. Fannin County 46
  165. Bastrop County 46
  166. DeWitt County 46
  167. Anderson County 46
  168. Hill County 45
  169. Morris County 45
  170. Kimble County 45
  171. Tarrant County 45
  172. Wood County 45
  173. Kleberg County 45
  174. Uvalde County 45
  175. Sutton County 45
  176. Gonzales County 45
  177. Karnes County 44
  178. Zavala County 44
  179. Dawson County 44
  180. Atascosa County 44
  181. Duval County 44
  182. Houston County 44
  183. Nueces County 44
  184. Bexar County 44
  185. Wilbarger County 44
  186. Reeves County 43
  187. Freestone County 43
  188. Delta County 43
  189. Palo Pinto County 43
  190. Potter County 43
  191. Refugio County 43
  192. Wharton County 43
  193. Nacogdoches County 43
  194. San Patricio County 43
  195. Crosby County 42
  196. Henderson County 42
  197. Waller County 42
  198. Dickens County 42
  199. Milam County 42
  200. Brooks County 42
  201. Harrison County 42
  202. Lee County 42
  203. Victoria County 42
  204. Grimes County 42
  205. Llano County 42
  206. Orange County 42
  207. Navarro County 41
  208. Austin County 41
  209. Cass County 41
  210. Howard County 41
  211. Newton County 41
  212. Stephens County 40
  213. Caldwell County 40
  214. Tyler County 40
  215. Walker County 40
  216. Jasper County 40
  217. Dallas County 40
  218. Swisher County 40
  219. Hunt County 39
  220. Bee County 39
  221. Ector County 39
  222. San Jacinto County 38
  223. Jones County 38
  224. Coleman County 38
  225. Montague County 38
  226. Bowie County 37
  227. Harris County 37
  228. Limestone County 37
  229. Jefferson County 36
  230. Jim Wells County 34
  231. Polk County 34
  232. Matagorda County 33
  233. Willacy County 33
  234. Aransas County 32
  235. Marion County 32
  236. Real County 32
  237. Liberty County 32
  238. Red River County 31
  239. San Augustine County 30
  240. Borden County –
  241. Cottle County –
  242. Edwards County –
  243. Foard County –
  244. Kenedy County –
  245. Kent County –
  246. King County –
  247. Loving County –
  248. McMullen County –
  249. Motley County –
  250. Roberts County –
  251. Sterling County –
  252. Stonewall County –
  253. Terrell County –
  254. Throckmorton County –

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources