65265Mexico, Missouri

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 65265.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 32% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5198th of 6,210 published ZIP areas37
Schools2821st of 4,422 published ZIP areas41
Growth3551st of 5,428 published ZIP areas40
Housing affordabilityTop 9% of 6,685 published ZIP areas100
Climate4150th of 6,789 published ZIP areas66
Physical resilienceTop 42% of 6,709 published ZIP areas66
Access6677th of 6,791 published ZIP areas41
Economic stability5827th of 6,742 published ZIP areas35
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 3.8% and the Opportunity signal places 65265 in the bottom 16%.

In the public schools here, 32% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.7 students for every teacher.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 15% of median household income and the median home is 2.7 times it.

At a glance

Population
15,153
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$56,969
Bottom 25% nationally
Density
68/sq mi
223.6 sq mi of land
Median age
40.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Mexico
Missouri
Metro area
Mexico, MO
Nearest major airport
STL
87 mi · St Louis Lambert Intl
Median home value
$152,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 74% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 2.3% over the past year, to 9,868 employed residents.

Median household income of $56,969 is below 75% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,250$56,969Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,023$29,330Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate17.3%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.9 minBottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher19.6%Bottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment9,868Bottom 2%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.7%Bottom 8%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.3%Bottom 14%June 2026
Labor force10,257Bottom 2%June 2026
Labor force participation57.2%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 18%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 26%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202457k46k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $56,969 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Mexico, MO, the city containing this ZIP code.

32% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 38% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
31.9%
Bottom 36% in Missouri
Reading proficiency
37.8%
Bottom 28% in Missouri
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
MEXICO HIGHMEXICO 5973416.0
MEXICO MIDDLEMEXICO 5946112.137%37%
HAWTHORNE ELEM.MEXICO 5944213.827%36%
EUGENE FIELD ELEM.MEXICO 5941812.732%41%
MCMILLAN EARLY LEARNING CENTERMEXICO 5931913.3
DAVIS H. HART CAREER CTR.MEXICO 590

84.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Missouri’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $693 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.7 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
14.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$693
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$152,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.68Bottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate68.4%Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2336,706Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$79$693Bottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,256$152,600Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.6%Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate11.6%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
40/ 100
Ranks 3551 of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 2.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
28
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.4
Bottom 45% nationally
Year over year
−3%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Mexico, MO, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.5 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MEXICO, 1.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

66 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and earthquake.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 73% of measured US ZIP areas.

EarthquakeElevated
DroughtModerate
HailModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Cold waveElevated
Inland floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, lightning, strong wind, tornado, ice storm, landslide, wildfire, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Audrain County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 9.5 per 100,000 residents in Audrain County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
9.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
19.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Audrain County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 65265 rather than 65265 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 87 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
St Louis Lambert IntlSTL87 mi11,020 ft
St Louis RgnlALN101 mi8,099 ft
Abraham Lincoln CapitalSPI126 mi8,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
55
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

65265 vs Mexico

How this ZIP area compares with Mexico as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

65265
Mexico
Median household income
$56,969
vs
$50,873
Per capita income
$29,330
vs
$28,002
Population density
68/sq mi
vs
943/sq mi
Median home value
$152,600
vs
$139,800
Median gross rent
$693
vs
$686
Homeownership rate
68.4%
vs
62.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher
19.6%
vs
17.2%
Poverty rate
17.3%
vs
17.8%
Median age
40.0
vs
37.3

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.