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Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Fort Worth.
So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we'll use science and data 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't expect all the suburbs to live up to Fort Worth proper, although Southlake certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Fort Worth are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones..
We examined the 60 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.
Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Fort Worth for 2022:
What's the worst suburb of Fort Worth? Forest Hill ranks as the worst suburb of Fort Worth for 2022 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Fort Worth that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don't blame the messenger.
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.
Editor's Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it's because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.
For more Texas reading, check out:
The 10 Worst Fort Worth Suburbs To Live For 2022
We'll get the ball rolling with Forest Hill, the absolute worst place to live around Fort Worth according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Forest Hill beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 2nd worst in the Fort Worth area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 5th 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 Forest Hill.
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.
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Welcome to Everman. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 11.2 miles to Fort Worth. Income levels here are the 3rd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $48,007 a year, which doesn't go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
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Back up the highway we go for the third worst Fort Worth suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Cleburne 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 drop out rate is poor compared to other Fort Worth suburbs.
But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
If you live in Reno, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 14th lowest Fort Worth suburb when it comes to residents making money.
Not only that, but this is the 8th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Fort Worth. Remember, we looked at 60 cities for this study.
Reno is about 17.2 miles to downtown.
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Population: 3,106
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 2)
Median Income: $61,591 (14th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.2% (8th highest)
Median Home Value: $151,300 (13th lowest)
More on Reno: Data
Sansom Park has the distinction of being a Fort Worth suburb. Which means that's about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Sansom Park has the lowest home values in the metro Fort Worth area, where the median price is $92,900. To put that into perspective, in Southlake, the median income is $223,621, which is the best in the area.
Sansom Park has an unemployment rate of 5.94% which ranks 12th worst.
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Population: 5,593
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 1)
Median Income: $55,465 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.9% (12th highest)
Median Home Value: $92,900 (lowest)
More on Sansom Park: Data
White Settlement has 17,716 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 11.186657368665736%.
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Ah, Cockrell Hill. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Fort Worth.
It's the place with the 19th most out of work residents in the Fort Worth metro area (5.14%).
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Keene is a city about 26.7 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. Keene has the 3rd most uninsured people, worst incomes, and has the 42nd highest unemployment rate (3.29%) in the entire Fort Worth metro area.
Homes only cost $141,900 for a reason. That's cheap for Fort Worth standards.
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If you absolutely have to live near Fort Worth, then Blue Mound might be a place for you to consider as it's only the 9th worst Fort Worth suburb.
About 5.94% of residents are out of work.
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Population: 2,317
Rank Last Year: 13 (Up 4)
Median Income: $54,167 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.9% (13th highest)
Median Home Value: $111,000 (4th lowest)
More on Blue Mound: Data
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 4th highest unemployment rate (9.05%), and poverty is far above the area average.
/10
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Fort Worth for 2022
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2016-2020, 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 drop outs
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Fort Worth.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 60 suburbs to evaluate around Fort Worth.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 60 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 lookin' at you, Forest Hill. You can download the data here.
Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.
Summary: The areas around Fort Worth where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2022
Well there you have it -- the worst of the 'burbs surrounding Fort Worth with Forest Hill casting itself ahead of the pack.
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
- Coppell
For more Texas reading, check out:
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Detailed List Of The Worst Fort Worth Suburbs
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Forest Hill | 12,964 |
2 | Everman | 6,232 |
3 | Cleburne | 30,812 |
4 | Reno | 3,106 |
5 | Sansom Park | 5,593 |
6 | White Settlement | 17,716 |
7 | Cockrell Hill | 4,200 |
8 | Keene | 6,456 |
9 | Blue Mound | 2,317 |
10 | Duncanville | 39,096 |
11 | Grand Prairie | 193,835 |
12 | Arlington | 397,269 |
13 | Springtown | 3,059 |
14 | Irving | 240,475 |
15 | Lake Worth | 4,932 |
16 | Alvarado | 4,282 |
17 | River Oaks | 7,653 |
18 | Cedar Hill | 48,337 |
19 | Weatherford | 32,110 |
20 | Joshua | 7,818 |
21 | Crowley | 15,972 |
22 | Azle | 12,950 |
23 | Venus | 4,027 |
24 | Ponder | 2,394 |
25 | Watauga | 24,487 |
26 | Farmers Branch | 42,659 |
27 | Lewisville | 107,740 |
28 | Hurst | 38,783 |
29 | Euless | 56,334 |
30 | Willow Park | 5,585 |
31 | Pantego | 2,479 |
32 | Richland Hills | 7,999 |
33 | Benbrook | 23,337 |
34 | Kennedale | 8,393 |
35 | Justin | 4,125 |
36 | Burleson | 47,151 |
37 | Carrollton | 137,319 |
38 | North Richland Hills | 70,585 |
39 | Grapevine | 54,151 |
40 | Hudson Oaks | 2,613 |
41 | Roanoke | 8,810 |
42 | Saginaw | 23,835 |
43 | Bedford | 49,145 |
44 | Annetta | 3,178 |
45 | Hickory Creek | 4,716 |
46 | Northlake | 3,182 |
47 | Dalworthington Gardens | 2,192 |
48 | Mansfield | 71,419 |
49 | Aledo | 4,767 |
50 | Corinth | 21,881 |
51 | Double Oak | 3,099 |
52 | Flower Mound | 78,854 |
53 | Keller | 46,885 |
54 | Colleyville | 26,766 |
55 | Trophy Club | 11,904 |
56 | Haslet | 2,276 |
57 | Argyle | 4,278 |
58 | Coppell | 41,494 |
59 | Highland | 19,012 |
60 | Southlake | 31,684 |