College Station, Texas

Area Profile

124,570 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for College Station, in Brazos County.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 29% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 49% of 3,904 published cities57
SchoolsTop 15% of 2,668 published cities79
GrowthTop 1% of 2,973 published cities86
Housing affordability3954th of 4,223 published cities44
Climate2382nd of 4,223 published cities69
Physical resilienceTop 26% of 4,182 published cities79
Access3935th of 4,226 published cities60
Economic stability3749th of 4,226 published cities35
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.7% and median household income $50,900, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 1,881 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 66% on the prior year.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 6.8 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 28% of it.

At a glance

Population
124,570
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$50,900
Bottom 24% nationally
Density
2,435/sq mi
51.2 sq mi of land
Median age
22.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Brazos County
Texas
Metro area
College Station-Bryan, TX
Nearest major airport
IAH
70 mi · George Bush Intcntl/Houston
Median home value
$346,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 36% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 67,159 employed residents.

57% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 92% of measured US cities.

Median household income of $50,900 is below 76% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,400$50,900Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,286$31,948Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate29.2%Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.9 minBottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher56.5%Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment67,159Top 45%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)5.4%Top 5%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.3%Top 35%June 2026
Labor force70,440Top 45%June 2026
Labor force participation61.0%Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$57,060Bottom 7%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$44,470Bottom 5%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 9%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 36%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.13.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.7% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202452k50k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $50,900 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.
Largest occupations — College Station-Bryan, TX
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers5,270$27,420
Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary4,370$57,790
General and Operations Managers3,250$87,910
Retail Salespersons3,120$28,800
Registered Nurses2,950$83,090
Customer Service Representatives2,500$37,190

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

55% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.8 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
24
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
54.6%
Top 14% in Texas
Reading proficiency
52.1%
Top 18% in Texas
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
COLLEGE STATION H SCOLLEGE STATION ISD2,22616.0
A & M CONS H SCOLLEGE STATION ISD2,16616.2
WELLBORN MIDDLECOLLEGE STATION ISD84314.876%65%
ILTEXAS COLLEGE STATION EL · charterINTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF TEXAS (ILTEXAS)79914.332%44%
PECAN TRAIL INTCOLLEGE STATION ISD77917.364%61%
OAKWOOD INTCOLLEGE STATION ISD72915.859%54%
SPRING CREEK ELCOLLEGE STATION ISD69616.262%54%
A & M CONSOLIDATED MIDDLECOLLEGE STATION ISD68114.862%51%
SOUTHWOOD VALLEY ELCOLLEGE STATION ISD65614.337%45%
PEBBLE CREEK ELCOLLEGE STATION ISD62815.760%59%
COLLEGE HILLS ELCOLLEGE STATION ISD60015.435%31%
COLLEGE STATION MIDDLECOLLEGE STATION ISD58213.562%57%

40.8% 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 $1,194 takes 28% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 6.8 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
28.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,194
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$346,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income6.81Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate35.4%Bottom 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±69651,494Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$23$1,194Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,530$346,700Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income28.1%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.3%Top 49%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
86/ 100
Top 1% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2020 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 grown 6% since 2020, reaching 128,023 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 3 consecutive years.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

61% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 15.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
1,881
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
15.1
Top 6% nationally
Year over year
+66%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
61.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024128k121k
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
202020222023202420251k689
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+11%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 95°F and January a low of 41°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.8 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station COLLEGE STN, 4.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation41.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low41°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high95°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index39.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing34°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

79 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, hail and drought.

HailModerate
HurricaneModerate
DroughtModerate

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

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.

Brazos County records 2.8 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 9.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 5.8 per 100,000 residents in Brazos County.

Homicide
2.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
9.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
5.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.0
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 Brazos 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 College Station rather than College Station 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

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 70 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
George Bush Intcntl/HoustonIAH70 mi12,001 ft
Sugar Land RgnlSGR77 mi8,000 ft
Tstc WacoCNW86 mi8,600 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
66
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Other cities in College Station-Bryan, TX

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BryanBrazos County87,93967vs College Station

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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 College Station

3 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
7784576,764$88,85175
7784054,864$30,37759
778438,259