The 10 Worst Fort Worth Suburbs


The worst Fort Worth suburbs are Sansom Park and Keene based on Saturday Night Science. Find out where your town ranks.

More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Fort Worth to avoid all the hustle and bustle.

So the question arises: what suburbs of Fort Worth are the worst?

Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Fort Worth ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Fort Worth area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Fort Worth proper, although Southlake certainly tries.

We examined the 65 biggest suburbs of Fort Worth to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Texas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Fort Worth in terms of quality of life.


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 worst suburbs around Fort Worth for 2025

  1. Sansom Park
  2. Keene
  3. Pelican Bay
  4. Everman
  5. Forest Hill
  6. Cockrell Hill
  7. River Oaks
  8. Lake Worth
  9. Grand Prairie
  10. Duncanville

Now don’t freak out.

What’s the worst suburb of Fort Worth? Sansom Park ranks as the worst suburb of Fort Worth for 2025 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.

Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Texas check out the best places in Texas overall or the worst.

And remember, there are some good places to live around Fort Worth too.

The 10 Worst Fort Worth Suburbs To Live For 2025

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,387
Median Income: $40,993 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.0% (6th highest)
Median Home Value: $189,645 (2nd lowest)
More on Sansom Park: Data | Cost Of Living

We’ll get the ball rolling with Sansom Park, the absolute worst place to live around Fort Worth according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Sansom Park beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the Fort Worth area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 2nd worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Sansom Park.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Keene, TX

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,574
Median Income: $50,796 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.0% (15th highest)
Median Home Value: $255,289 (10th lowest)
More on Keene: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Welcome to Keene. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 26.7 miles to Fort Worth. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $50,796 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

3. Pelican Bay

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 2,271
Median Income: $57,105 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 9.5% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $160,701 (lowest)
More on Pelican Bay: Crime

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Fort Worth suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Pelican Bay on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Fort Worth suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

Everman, TX

Source: Wikipedia User nthomas76207 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,060
Median Income: $60,068 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 9.4% (3rd highest)
Median Home Value: $216,814 (6th lowest)
More on Everman: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

If you live in Everman, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 7th lowest Fort Worth suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 3rd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Fort Worth. Remember, we looked at 65 cities for this study.

Everman is about 11.2 miles to downtown.

Forest Hill, TX

Source: Wikipedia User nthomas76207 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 13,923
Median Income: $59,653 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.6% (13th highest)
Median Home Value: $222,395 (8th lowest)
More on Forest Hill: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Forest Hill has the distinction of being a Fort Worth suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Forest Hill has the 8th lowest home values in the metro Fort Worth area, where the median price is $222,395. The median income is $250,001.

Forest Hill has an unemployment rate of 5.59% which ranks 13th worst.

6. Cockrell Hill

Cockrell Hill, TX

Source: Wikipedia User | CC-BY-SA-3.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 3,736
Median Income: $53,788 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 10.3% (highest)
Median Home Value: $210,197 (3rd lowest)
More on Cockrell Hill: Crime

Cockrell Hill has 3,736 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 7.223415682062298%.

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 7,516
Median Income: $65,582 (11th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.0% (26th highest)
Median Home Value: $213,867 (4th lowest)
More on River Oaks: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Ah, River Oaks. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Fort Worth.

It’s the place with the 26th most out of work residents in the Fort Worth metro area (3.99%).

8. Lake Worth

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 4,667
Median Income: $83,869 (26th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 9.0% (4th highest)
Median Home Value: $229,082 (9th lowest)
More on Lake Worth: Crime

Lake Worth is a city about 5.3 miles from Fort Worth, but Fort Worth probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Lake Worth has the 15th most uninsured people, 26th worst incomes, and has the 4th highest unemployment rate (8.98%) in the entire Fort Worth metro area.

Homes only cost $229,082 for a reason. That’s cheap for Fort Worth standards.

Grand Prairie, TX

Source: Wikipedia User Gp user | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 198,564
Median Income: $78,889 (20th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.2% (14th highest)
Median Home Value: $313,456 (20th lowest)
More on Grand Prairie: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

If you absolutely have to live near Fort Worth, then Grand Prairie might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Fort Worth suburb.

About 5.15% of residents are out of work.

Duncanville, TX

Source: Wikipedia User | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 39,879
Median Income: $71,381 (16th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.3% (8th highest)
Median Home Value: $273,281 (14th lowest)
More on Duncanville: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living

Rounding out the ten worst Fort Worth suburbs to call home is Duncanville.

Located 26.8 miles outside the city, Duncanvilles is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 8th highest unemployment rate (7.32%), and poverty is far above the area average.

Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Fort Worth for 2025

To figure out how bad a Fort Worth suburb is to live in, we used Saturday Night Science to identify the kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.

Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2019-2023, this is the criteria we used:

  • High unemployment rate
  • Low median household incomes
  • Low population density (no things to do)
  • Low home values
  • A lot of high school dropouts
  • High poverty
  • High rate of uninsured families

We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Fort Worth.

We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 65 suburbs to evaluate around Fort Worth.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 65 in each category, where 1 was the “worst.”

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.

And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Fort Worth.” We’re looking at you, Sansom Park.

We updated this article for 2025, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around Fort Worth.

Summary: The areas around Fort Worth where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2025

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Fort Worth with Sansom Park casting itself ahead of the pack.

The worst suburbs of Fort Worth are .

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Fort Worth aren’t all bad. Southlake takes the cake as the best place to live around Fort Worth.

  • Southlake
  • Highland
  • Colleyville

For more Texas reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Worst Fort Worth Suburbs

Rank City Population Median Income Median Home Values
1 Sansom Park 5,387 $40,993 $189,645
2 Keene 6,574 $50,796 $255,289
3 Pelican Bay 2,271 $57,105 $160,701
4 Everman 6,060 $60,068 $216,814
5 Forest Hill 13,923 $59,653 $222,395
6 Cockrell Hill 3,736 $53,788 $210,197
7 River Oaks 7,516 $65,582 $213,867
8 Lake Worth 4,667 $83,869 $229,082
9 Grand Prairie 198,564 $78,889 $313,456
10 Duncanville 39,879 $71,381 $273,281
11 Alvarado 5,424 $71,296 $298,317
12 Cleburne 32,966 $66,324 $268,054
13 Arlington 394,769 $73,519 $307,003
14 Venus 5,874 $97,039 $315,300
15 Blue Mound 2,372 $64,665 $215,296
16 Irving 255,036 $79,641 $336,985
17 White Settlement 18,119 $56,472 $218,585
18 Cedar Hill 48,547 $90,608 $304,839
19 Joshua 8,279 $60,466 $350,716
20 Azle 13,734 $81,200 $334,072
21 Richland Hills 8,473 $67,628 $276,582
22 Godley 2,223 $93,182 $437,168
23 Rhome 2,006 $90,969 $271,522
24 Watauga 23,336 $91,669 $272,110
25 Weatherford 33,924 $78,738 $391,655
26 Reno 3,156 $92,857 $365,693
27 Pantego 2,467 $64,955 $348,311
28 Crowley 19,007 $92,599 $315,985
29 Farmers Branch 36,254 $87,702 $369,828
30 Springtown 3,493 $70,254 $391,568
31 Hurst 39,912 $71,743 $328,518
32 Euless 60,373 $80,987 $351,697
33 Benbrook 24,430 $82,148 $313,467
34 Lewisville 128,313 $85,002 $393,723
35 Burleson 50,981 $94,162 $337,045
36 Bedford 49,191 $81,393 $368,654
37 Kennedale 8,954 $117,853 $382,113
38 Saginaw 24,467 $98,003 $299,591
39 Northlake 7,138 $119,803 $493,861
40 Roanoke 9,947 $100,986 $425,181
41 Carrollton 132,741 $99,115 $401,974
42 Grapevine 50,875 $111,438 $538,668
43 Ponder 2,524 $110,714 $321,412
44 North Richland Hills 70,338 $93,434 $361,366
45 Mansfield 75,398 $116,590 $438,497
46 Annetta 3,172 $173,750 $534,517
47 Willow Park 5,447 $113,736 $412,849
48 Justin 5,068 $93,887 $367,825
49 Copper Canyon 2,257 $143,304 $1,071,872
50 Dalworthington Gardens 2,061 $138,542 $546,868
51 Bartonville 2,022 $148,194 $1,353,480
52 Hickory Creek 5,161 $144,434 $497,799
53 Hudson Oaks 2,484 $138,500 $538,452
54 Haslet 2,710 $146,161 $391,666
55 Corinth 22,868 $118,949 $412,502
56 Flower Mound 77,886 $157,737 $602,817
57 Trophy Club 13,454 $193,026 $686,797
58 Aledo 5,432 $152,083 $545,863
59 Coppell 42,029 $139,227 $609,449
60 Double Oak 3,060 $180,208 $838,290
61 Argyle 4,970 $172,604 $593,388
62 Keller 45,598 $172,654 $639,898
63 Colleyville 25,906 $203,566 $888,137
64 Highland 19,625 $178,662 $963,189
65 Southlake 31,044 $250,001 $1,258,720
About Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson earned his masters in Business Administration from the Drucker School At Claremont Graduate University. He has written for 39 publications across the country and ran the media relations department at Movoto, a real estate portal based in San Francisco. He has been featured in over 500 publications as an expert in real estate and as an authority on real estate trends.

Nick's the creator of the HomeSnacks YouTube channel that now has over 260,000 subscribers and is an excellent source to learn about different parts of the country.

5 thoughts on “The 10 Worst Fort Worth Suburbs

  1. This ranking is seriously flawed. For example. Cleburne, most people do not work in the suburb they live. I work in Fort Worth, make very good money and I am moving to Cleburne for the prices. This is a great thing since the northern suburbs and Fort Worth have over inflated home prices. Those home are truly not worth their value. I am looking for fair market housing, low crime and Cleberne offers both.

  2. How do you determine drop out rate? Those that drop out from Everman High School or those that live there that dropped out of high school from wherever?

  3. I agree with Justin’s statement. My husband and I have great jobs with UT-Southwestern. We moved in May, 2019 to an amazing home in 76108: White Settlement. We have wonderful neighbors and a home that we can afford. The property taxes are not horrible and it takes 13 minutes to get to the hospital district in Fort Worth. We shop in one of the swanky areas just next to us in 76106. I frankly can’t understand why people diss White Settlement. We came from Southern California which is MUCH worse.

  4. Lake worth has every bussiness you could ever need with less then 5000 residents… and within a short drive from all the neighborhoods as its played out with the businesses in the center with neiborhoods around the edges, the traffic can buildup during rush hour due to it being the main way to azle etc. lakeworth schools have Northside children bused in making the free to all breakfast and lunch policy due to poverty, yet this program has shown to benefit all classes of students in acually eatting breakfast. I dont even live in lakeworth but find it amazing the amount of bussiness the town has been able to support as the city I live in has 44000 people and cant get any businesses to invest nor stay in bussiness when they do.

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