Brownwood, Texas

Area Profile

18,777 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Brownwood, in Brown County.

60out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 47% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3541st of 3,904 published cities33
SchoolsTop 27% of 2,668 published cities70
GrowthTop 38% of 2,973 published cities57
Housing affordabilityTop 28% of 4,223 published cities92
Climate2750th of 4,223 published cities65
Physical resilienceTop 33% of 4,182 published cities73
Access4159th of 4,226 published cities38
Economic stability3799th of 4,226 published cities33
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.8% and the Opportunity signal places Brownwood in the bottom 9%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 124 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 48% on the prior year.

The nearest major airport is 93 miles away, which is farther than most measured US cities.

At a glance

Population
18,777
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$48,981
Bottom 21% nationally
Density
1,258/sq mi
14.9 sq mi of land
Median age
37.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Brown County
Texas
Metro area
Brownwood, TX
Nearest major airport
SJT
93 mi · San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis Fld
Median home value
$144,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 32% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.2% over the past year, to 16,319 employed residents.

Median household income of $48,981 is below 79% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$8,219$48,981Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,634$29,291Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate20.9%Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute14.8 minBottom 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher19.0%Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment16,319Bottom 17%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.0%Bottom 31%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.2%Bottom 40%June 2026
Labor force17,144Bottom 18%June 2026
Labor force participation59.1%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.9%Top 7%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 32%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202449k43k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $48,981 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 publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Brown County, TX, which contains this city.

49% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 44% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
49.1%
Top 26% in Texas
Reading proficiency
44.0%
Top 40% in Texas
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
BROWNWOOD H SBROWNWOOD ISD93513.6
COGGIN ELBROWNWOOD ISD70813.647%37%
WOODLAND HEIGHTS ELBROWNWOOD ISD49415.452%57%
NORTHWEST ELBROWNWOOD ISD48613.537%32%
BROWNWOOD MIDDLEBROWNWOOD ISD47212.152%47%
EAST ELBROWNWOOD ISD28114.865%55%
LONE STAR H S WEST (TJJD)LONE STAR SCHOOL DISTRICT82
BROWNWOOD ACCELERATED H SBROWNWOOD ISD178.5

60.4% 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 Texas’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 $882 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
21.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$882
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$144,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.95Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate54.8%Bottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3068,671Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$59$882Bottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,401$144,400Bottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.6%Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate14.7%Top 35%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
57/ 100
Top 38% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

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.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 18,772 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

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

At 6.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
124
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.6
Top 22% nationally
Year over year
+48%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202419k19k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202220232024202512214
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+543%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 97°F and January a low of 32°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 30.6 inches, including 1.3 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BROWNWOOD 2ENE, 2.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation30.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high97°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing39°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

73 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are cold wave, hail and wildfire.

HailElevated
WildfireElevated
DroughtModerate
Cold waveElevated

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, strong wind, inland flooding, tornado, heat wave, hurricane, lightning, landslide, earthquake, ice storm.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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.

Brown County records 4.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 11.1 per 100,000 residents in Brown County.

Homicide
4.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
11.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
21.5
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 Brown 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 Brownwood rather than Brownwood 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 93 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis FldSJT93 mi8,054 ft
Tstc WacoCNW112 mi8,600 ft
Austin-Bergstrom IntlAUS130 mi12,250 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
60
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Put Brownwood side by side with a similar place.

Brownwood vs SedaliaBrownwood vs CadillacBrownwood vs RadfordBrownwood vs Danville

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.

ZIP codes in Brownwood

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
7680125,146$54,23160