Gray County, TX

County Profile

21,045 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Gray 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.

45out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 8% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity1,090th of 1,463 counties measured43
SchoolsTop 44% of 1,377 counties measured55
Growth1,410th of 1,453 counties measured16
Housing affordability781st of 1,462 counties measured73
Climate1,051st of 1,463 counties measured62
Physical resilience1,236th of 1,463 counties measured29
Access1,078th of 1,463 counties measured68
Economic stability1,339th of 1,463 counties measured23
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 4.2% and the Opportunity signal places Gray County in the bottom 26%.

In the public schools here, 54% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.7 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 3 units authorized over the past twelve months, against 6 the year before.

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
21,045
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$59,614
Bottom 34% nationally
Density
23/sq mi
926 sq mi of land
Median age
36.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Gray County
Texas
Micro area
Nearest major airport
AMA
52 mi · Rick Husband Amarillo Intl
Median home value
$102,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% — higher than in all but 47% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 8,606 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$49,58421st percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$51,39028th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$5,8572024 ACS 5-Year$59,614Bottom 34%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,7502024 ACS 5-Year$33,745Bottom 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$54,793Bottom 45%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year14.9%Bottom 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.7 min2024 ACS 5-Year19.8 minTop 14%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year16.2%Bottom 18%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year84.8%92nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 20268,606Bottom 8%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+0.5%Top 44%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−0.3%Top 46%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 20268,9818th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year67.1%Bottom 18%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.1%Bottom 30%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.2%Bottom 47%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year4.1%10th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.73.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% 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

202120222023202460k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $59,614 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.

54% 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 across 9 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
54.4%
Top 19% in Texas
Reading proficiency
37.8%
Bottom 16% in Texas
All 9 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Pampa H SPAMPA ISD1,01214.365%40%
Pampa J HPAMPA ISD68013.944%34%
William B Travis ElPAMPA ISD47015.2——
Lamar ElPAMPA ISD41515.4——
Stephen F Austin ElPAMPA ISD37115.5——
Woodrow Wilson ElPAMPA ISD19317.5——
McLean SchoolMCLEAN ISD18210.157%52%
Lefors SchoolLEFORS ISD1737.932%22%
Grandview-Hopkins ElGRANDVIEW-HOPKINS ISD499.850%50%

62.9% 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 $1,408 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.37% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,037, some 11% above the $933 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,037 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $41,500 a year, about 70% of the median household income here of $59,614.

The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $933 a month.

A median home at $102,900 costs 1.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $71,176, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
30.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,037
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$933
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$102,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Gray County’s median household income of $59,614, 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-Year1.4Top 4%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year76.4%60th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±342024 ACS 5-Year9,95243rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$790Top 23%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,243Top 16%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,037Top 32%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$442024 ACS 5-Year$933Bottom 39%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,1812024 ACS 5-Year$102,9008th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1782024 ACS 5-Year$1,40842nd percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,5302024 ACS 5-Year$71,176Bottom 37%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.23%2024 ACS 5-Year1.37%84th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year30.0%Bottom 28%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±542024 ACS 5-Year13125th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.3%31st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year18.4%93rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2522024 ACS 5-Year1,96153rd 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

16/ 100
Ranks 1,410 of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, 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 fallen 1% since 2020, to 20,888 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 3 units authorized in 2025, against 7 the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 3 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Gray County lost about 0.5% 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 $49,584, close to the $51,390 of households that moved out.

At 0.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
3
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.1
Bottom 4% nationally
Year over year
−50%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202421k21k
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 falling, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.5%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
31%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$49,584
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$51,390
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Randall County, TX 114 people · 13% of arrivals
  2. Potter County, TX 78 people · 9.0% of arrivals
  3. Hutchinson County, TX 47 people · 5.4% of arrivals
  4. Carson County, TX 46 people · 5.3% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Randall County, TX 126 people · 13% of departures
  2. Potter County, TX 82 people · 8.6% of departures
  3. Hutchinson County, TX 51 people · 5.4% of departures
  4. Lubbock County, TX 41 people · 4.3% 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

20222023202420257.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

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 24°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 22.7 inches, including 3.5 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CLARENDON, 32.8 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND3.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals22.7"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals3.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals24°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals95°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals43°F1991-2020 Normals

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

Physical risk

29 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are drought, tornado and cold wave, with drought alone responsible for 21% of it.

DroughtHigh
WildfireHigh
HailHigh
Winter weatherModerate
Ice stormModerate
TornadoModerate
Cold waveElevated
Strong windElevated
EarthquakeModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, hurricane, inland flooding, heat wave, landslide, 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.

Gray County has a modeled homicide rate of about 5.4 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 18.9 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 18.2 per 100,000 residents in Gray County.

Homicide
5.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
18.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
22.4
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 Gray 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Rick Husband Amarillo Intl at 52 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year87.9%Top 42%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle52 miBottom 28%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year9.9%Top 48%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rick Husband Amarillo IntlAMA52 mi13,502 ft
Infinity One Oklahoma SpaceportCSM91 mi13,503 ft
Lubbock Preston Smith IntlLBB133 mi11,500 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
45
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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 September 26, 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 Gray County, TX