More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Irving to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: what suburbs of Irving are the worst?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Irving ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Irving area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Irving proper, although University Park certainly tries.
We examined the 89 biggest suburbs of Irving 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 places are a little too far downwind of Irving in terms of quality of life.
$59,626 median income · $226,033 median home price
We’ll get the ball rolling with Wilmer, the absolute worst place to live around Irving according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Wilmer beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 5th worst in the Irving area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 8th 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 Wilmer.
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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,257 median income · $200,627 median home price
Welcome to Sansom Park. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 25.3 miles to Irving. Income levels here are the lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $42,257 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.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$68,311 median income · $219,884 median home price
Located in
Tarrant County, Texas
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Irving suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Everman 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 Irving suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$66,743 median income · $272,216 median home price
Located in
Kaufman County, Texas
If you live in Seagoville, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 9th lowest Irving suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 39th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Irving. Remember, we looked at 89 cities for this study.
Seagoville is about 28.4 miles to downtown.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$68,302 median income · $272,337 median home price
Located in
Dallas County, Texas
Lancaster has the distinction of being a Irving suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Lancaster has the 14th lowest home values in the metro Irving area, where the median price is $272,337. The median income is $250,001.
Lancaster has an unemployment rate of 7.2% which ranks 10th worst.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$47,829 median income · $249,516 median home price
Located in
Dallas County, Texas
Hutchins has 7,496 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 18.9%.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$52,292 median income · $216,651 median home price
Ah, Cockrell Hill. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Irving.
It’s the place with the 2nd most out of work residents in the Irving metro area (11.1%).
Data | Movers
$81,910 median income · $235,197 median home price
Lake Worth is a city about 26.9 miles from Irving, but Irving probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Lake Worth has the 17th most uninsured people, 28th worst incomes, and has the 7th highest unemployment rate (7.7%) in the entire Irving metro area.
Homes only cost $235,197 for a reason. That’s cheap for Irving standards.
Data | Movers
$66,942 median income · $224,769 median home price
Located in
Dallas County, Texas
If you absolutely have to live near Irving, then Balch Springs might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Irving suburb.
About 8.3% of residents are out of work.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$63,500 median income · $222,017 median home price
Located in
Tarrant County, Texas
Rounding out the ten worst Irving suburbs to call home is River Oaks.
Located 25.5 miles outside the city, River Oaks is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 15th highest unemployment rate (6.0%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Texas’s statewide median.
Texas statewide median: $78,476
Texas statewide median: $300,957
Texas statewide median: 5.3%
Texas statewide median: 13.8%
On the map
Where the worst Irving suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Irving for 2026
To figure out how bad a Irving 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 2020-2024, 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 Irving.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 89 suburbs to evaluate around Irving.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 89 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 Irving.” We’re looking at you, Wilmer.
We updated this article for 2026, which reflects our eleventh time ranking the worst suburbs around Irving.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Worst Irving Suburbs
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Worst Score | Population | Median Income | Median Home Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilmer | 5.43 | 6,391 | $59,626 | $226,033 |
| 2 | Sansom Park | 15.57 | 5,392 | $42,257 | $200,627 |
| 3 | Everman | 15.64 | 6,106 | $68,311 | $219,884 |
| 4 | Seagoville | 16.43 | 19,352 | $66,743 | $272,216 |
| 5 | Lancaster | 17.86 | 40,820 | $68,302 | $272,337 |
| 6 | Hutchins | 17.86 | 7,496 | $47,829 | $249,516 |
| 7 | Cockrell Hill | 18.00 | 3,703 | $52,292 | $216,651 |
| 8 | Lake Worth | 18.14 | 4,829 | $81,910 | $235,197 |
| 9 | Balch Springs | 18.86 | 27,255 | $66,942 | $224,769 |
| 10 | River Oaks | 18.86 | 7,584 | $63,500 | $222,017 |
| 11 | Forest Hill | 22.86 | 14,062 | $68,457 | $226,976 |
| 12 | Mesquite | 23.00 | 149,299 | $72,537 | $262,121 |
| 13 | Dallas | 24.79 | 1,307,930 | $70,518 | $309,421 |
| 14 | Duncanville | 25.29 | 39,683 | $76,457 | $277,367 |
| 15 | Glenn Heights | 26.21 | 18,096 | $81,718 | $330,035 |
| 16 | White Settlement | 26.43 | 18,150 | $56,784 | $220,447 |
| 17 | Fort Worth | 26.86 | 963,194 | $79,507 | $298,051 |
| 18 | Grand Prairie | 27.29 | 201,883 | $81,619 | $316,527 |
| 19 | Denton | 27.43 | 152,866 | $76,019 | $354,135 |
| 20 | Garland | 28.07 | 246,844 | $76,320 | $286,805 |
| 21 | Ferris | 28.86 | 3,238 | $89,722 | $292,617 |
| 22 | Arlington | 29.00 | 397,742 | $75,171 | $310,971 |
| 23 | Cedar Hill | 29.86 | 48,879 | $101,909 | $314,931 |
| 24 | Richland Hills | 31.79 | 8,493 | $66,721 | $286,289 |
| 25 | Blue Mound | 32.79 | 2,366 | $66,375 | $221,761 |
| 26 | DeSoto | 33.29 | 56,211 | $82,782 | $338,710 |
| 27 | Watauga | 34.14 | 23,233 | $91,171 | $277,103 |
| 28 | Cross Roads | 34.71 | 2,035 | $124,145 | $337,284 |
| 29 | Euless | 36.07 | 60,421 | $82,167 | $357,017 |
| 30 | Hackberry | 37.07 | 2,979 | $109,769 | $441,786 |
| 31 | Kennedale | 37.29 | 9,439 | $118,794 | $383,332 |
| 32 | Lakewood | 38.71 | 62,937 | $74,720 | $521,148 |
| 33 | Farmers Branch | 39.86 | 36,645 | $91,186 | $377,734 |
| 34 | Red Oak | 40.00 | 17,077 | $104,561 | $344,822 |
| 35 | Little Elm | 40.07 | 54,820 | $119,219 | $403,397 |
| 36 | Lewisville | 40.43 | 131,080 | $89,233 | $393,896 |
| 37 | Hurst | 40.79 | 39,861 | $72,210 | $337,204 |
| 38 | Crowley | 41.21 | 19,532 | $95,030 | $314,947 |
| 39 | Roanoke | 41.79 | 10,286 | $97,295 | $428,021 |
| 40 | Pantego | 42.00 | 2,337 | $71,293 | $348,641 |
| 41 | Saginaw | 42.79 | 24,970 | $97,276 | $299,871 |
| 42 | Richardson | 44.29 | 118,731 | $98,111 | $440,400 |
| 43 | Lake Dallas | 45.57 | 7,822 | $76,879 | $347,097 |
| 44 | Carrollton | 45.86 | 133,740 | $101,396 | $406,040 |
| 45 | Grapevine | 46.00 | 51,139 | $111,376 | $552,148 |
| 46 | Midlothian | 46.43 | 39,356 | $126,641 | $450,602 |
| 47 | Bedford | 47.14 | 49,085 | $83,971 | $374,676 |
| 48 | Fairview | 47.57 | 10,783 | $109,347 | $660,166 |
| 49 | Ponder | 47.86 | 2,626 | $106,250 | $315,721 |
| 50 | Wylie | 48.07 | 60,334 | $119,522 | $421,548 |
| 51 | Ovilla | 48.71 | 4,375 | $131,434 | $495,093 |
| 52 | Rowlett | 49.00 | 65,463 | $112,081 | $371,473 |
| 53 | Addison | 49.43 | 17,290 | $73,854 | $490,587 |
| 54 | North Richland Hills | 50.21 | 70,780 | $97,305 | $367,728 |
| 55 | Sunnyvale | 50.43 | 8,336 | $170,348 | $631,290 |
| 56 | Northlake | 51.57 | 8,283 | $123,469 | $497,061 |
| 57 | Mansfield | 51.57 | 77,510 | $121,126 | $444,293 |
| 58 | The Colony | 51.93 | 45,454 | $114,511 | $406,282 |
| 59 | Sachse | 53.79 | 30,491 | $131,808 | $433,037 |
| 60 | Dalworthington Gardens | 54.00 | 2,180 | $138,594 | $549,787 |
| 61 | Plano | 55.00 | 290,594 | $112,253 | $498,989 |
| 62 | Bartonville | 55.57 | 2,112 | $149,071 | $1,403,732 |
| 63 | Prosper | 56.79 | 37,869 | $195,281 | $784,350 |
| 64 | Justin | 56.86 | 5,447 | $114,157 | $371,851 |
| 65 | McKinney | 57.71 | 210,600 | $124,215 | $481,963 |
| 66 | Hickory Creek | 60.14 | 5,611 | $148,852 | $494,276 |
| 67 | Parker | 60.71 | 5,999 | $229,080 | $1,088,169 |
| 68 | Copper Canyon | 60.86 | 2,514 | $155,625 | $1,073,390 |
| 69 | Oak Point | 60.93 | 5,887 | $126,290 | $419,835 |
| 70 | Heath | 61.21 | 10,777 | $220,828 | $708,331 |
| 71 | Shady Shores | 61.79 | 2,922 | $159,375 | $522,063 |
| 72 | Allen | 61.86 | 110,265 | $130,901 | $493,532 |
| 73 | Haslet | 62.00 | 3,280 | $169,046 | $389,006 |
| 74 | Corinth | 62.57 | 23,385 | $120,580 | $410,565 |
| 75 | Frisco | 62.86 | 219,304 | $150,212 | $656,758 |
| 76 | Providence | 64.43 | 8,947 | $118,072 | $527,895 |
| 77 | Argyle | 64.93 | 5,371 | $181,352 | $594,342 |
| 78 | Murphy | 65.29 | 21,188 | $175,699 | $571,960 |
| 79 | Flower Mound | 65.79 | 78,389 | $161,235 | $609,719 |
| 80 | Double Oak | 66.86 | 3,071 | $172,321 | $845,919 |
| 81 | Coppell | 68.50 | 42,154 | $146,235 | $619,492 |
| 82 | Keller | 69.57 | 45,976 | $174,950 | $652,144 |
| 83 | Lucas | 70.71 | 8,351 | $221,364 | $1,074,131 |
| 84 | Highland | 71.29 | 20,119 | $186,075 | $971,050 |
| 85 | Trophy Club | 73.86 | 13,733 | $201,054 | $701,041 |
| 86 | Highland Park | 74.14 | 8,773 | $250,001 | $2,891,619 |
| 87 | Colleyville | 74.29 | 26,012 | $218,328 | $913,049 |
| 88 | Southlake | 76.43 | 31,137 | $250,001 | $1,301,365 |
| 89 | University Park | 79.29 | 25,155 | $250,001 | $2,420,171 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 89 suburbs within 30 miles of Irving.
Summary
Summary: The areas around Irving where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2026
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Irving with Wilmer casting itself ahead of the pack.
The worst suburbs of Irving are Wilmer, Sansom Park, Everman, Seagoville, Lancaster, Hutchins, Cockrell Hill, Lake Worth, Balch Springs, and River Oaks.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Irving aren’t all bad. University Park takes the cake as the best place to live around Irving. Not sold on Texas? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Suburbs Of Irving FAQs
What is the worst suburb of Irving?
Wilmer ranks as the worst suburb around Irving for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Sansom Park and Everman are next on the list.
What are the worst suburbs of Irving?
The worst-ranked suburbs around Irving are Wilmer, Sansom Park, Everman, Seagoville, Lancaster, Hutchins, Cockrell Hill, Lake Worth, Balch Springs, and River Oaks. We scored all 89 places within 30 miles.
Why does Wilmer rank as the worst suburb?
Wilmer posts the roughest combined numbers of the 89 suburbs we scored: a median household income of $59,626, a median home value of $226,033, and a poverty rate of 32.7%.
What is the best-ranked suburb near Irving?
University Park lands at the opposite end of this ranking, making it the best-ranked suburb near Irving by these measures. Our separate best suburbs of Irving list covers that side properly.
How do you rank the worst suburbs?
Suburbs are scored on unemployment, income, density, home values, dropouts, poverty, and insurance coverage, using Census American Community Survey data. Real numbers, light heart — every one of these towns has people making it work.
