Brown County, TX

County Profile

38,347 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Brown County, TX.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 27% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity1,282nd of 1,463 counties measured33
Schools941st of 1,377 counties measured36
GrowthTop 35% of 1,453 counties measured58
Housing affordability1,142nd of 1,462 counties measured65
Climate855th of 1,463 counties measured65
Physical resilienceTop 24% of 1,463 counties measured77
Access1,397th of 1,463 counties measured38
Economic stability1,227th of 1,463 counties measured32
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 4.5% and the Opportunity signal places Brown County in the bottom 12%.

In the public schools here, 41% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 12.5 students for every teacher.

239 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 14% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
38,347
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,470
Bottom 29% nationally
Density
41/sq mi
944.5 sq mi of land
Median age
41.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Brown County
Texas
Micro area
Nearest major airport
SJT
93 mi · San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis Fld
Median home value
$158,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.5% — higher than in all but 35% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 1.2% over the past year, to 16,325 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$71,96674th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$55,86943rd percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$4,2782024 ACS 5-Year$57,470Bottom 29%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,4302024 ACS 5-Year$31,180Bottom 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$50,678Bottom 27%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year15.0%Bottom 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.0 min2024 ACS 5-Year19.4 minTop 12%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year20.2%Bottom 39%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year79.0%61st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202616,325Bottom 23%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−2.0%Bottom 26%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−1.2%Bottom 37%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202617,09024th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year72.4%Bottom 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.9%85th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.4%Top 32%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.5%Bottom 35%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year4.7%15th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.13.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.5% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. 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

202120222023202457k49k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,470 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.

41% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 42% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.5 students for every full-time teacher across 20 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
21
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.5
across 20 of them
Math proficiency
41.5%
Bottom 16% in Texas
Reading proficiency
42.5%
Bottom 34% in Texas
The 12 largest of 21 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Brownwood H SBROWNWOOD ISD93513.629%40%
Coggin ElBROWNWOOD ISD70813.642%40%
Woodland Heights ElBROWNWOOD ISD49415.442%42%
Northwest ElBROWNWOOD ISD48613.552%37%
Brownwood MiddleBROWNWOOD ISD47212.145%43%
J B Stephens ElBANGS ISD36613.647%42%
Early H SEARLY ISD36511.867%62%
East ElBROWNWOOD ISD28114.827%22%
Early ElEARLY ISD24111.033%54%
Early PriEARLY ISD23111.6——
Early MiddleEARLY ISD23011.057%52%
Bangs H SBANGS ISD2269.842%42%

57.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Texas’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Texas is up 44% over five years, and up 2.9% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,770 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.11% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,080, some 18% above the $919 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,080 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $43,200 a year, about 75% of the median household income here of $57,470.

The typical renter household here spends 34% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $919 a month.

A median home at $158,900 costs 2.2 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $71,927, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
34.3%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.2×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,080
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$919
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$158,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Brown County’s median household income of $57,470, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Texas’s figure2026 Q2+2.9%33rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Texas’s figure2026 Q2+43.8%43rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Texas’s figure2026 Q2+97.6%52nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year2.2Top 33%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year68.3%24th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±632024 ACS 5-Year19,24663rd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$823Top 30%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,362Top 34%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,080Top 38%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$402024 ACS 5-Year$919Bottom 42%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,4452024 ACS 5-Year$158,90036th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1682024 ACS 5-Year$1,77057th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,7882024 ACS 5-Year$71,927Bottom 39%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.12%2024 ACS 5-Year1.11%73rd percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year34.3%Bottom 6%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2342024 ACS 5-Year1,55981st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year8.1%76th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year14.1%80th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3752024 ACS 5-Year4,27476th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

58/ 100
Top 35% of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was upward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 2% since 2020, reaching 38,631 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 210 units authorized in 2025, up 48% on the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 239 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Brown County gained about 0.8% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $71,966, above the $55,869 of households that moved out.

At 6.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
239
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.2
Top 20% nationally
Year over year
+14%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202439k38k
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. It has been rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.8%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
18%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$71,966
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$55,869
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Taylor County, TX 92 people · 5.1% of arrivals
  2. Coleman County, TX 78 people · 4.3% of arrivals
  3. Comanche County, TX 72 people · 4.0% of arrivals
  4. Williamson County, TX 62 people · 3.5% of arrivals
  5. Tarrant County, TX 61 people · 3.4% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Taylor County, TX 88 people · 5.7% of departures
  2. Coleman County, TX 66 people · 4.3% of departures
  3. Tarrant County, TX 64 people · 4.1% of departures
  4. Comanche County, TX 55 people · 3.5% of departures
  5. Tom Green County, TX 52 people · 3.4% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025250118
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+78%).

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, 3.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals30.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals1.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals97°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals39°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

77 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 61% of it. Inland flooding and tornado are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 76% of measured US counties.

HailElevated
WildfireElevated
DroughtModerate
Cold waveElevated

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Brown County has a modeled homicide rate of about 4.7 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 15.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 11.0 per 100,000 residents in Brown County.

Homicide
4.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
11.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
19.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Brown County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis Fld at 93 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year87.3%Top 47%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle93 miBottom 5%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle1Bottom 3%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year9.6%Top 45%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis FldSJT93 mi8,054 ft
Tstc WacoCNW113 mi8,600 ft
Perot Fld/Fort Worth AllianceAFW130 mi11,125 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
53
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Brown County, TX

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.