Kaufman County, TX

County Profile

172,604 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Kaufman 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.

73out of 100
Area Score
Top 13% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 37% of 1,255 counties measured62
Schools575th of 973 counties measured43
GrowthTop 1% of 1,226 counties measured94
Housing affordability820th of 1,255 counties measured87
ClimateTop 49% of 1,254 counties measured68
Physical resilienceTop 21% of 1,255 counties measured80
AccessTop 44% of 1,255 counties measured84
Economic stabilityTop 14% of 1,255 counties measured87
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.0% and median household income $89,485, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 2,133 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 60% on the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Kaufman County in the top 21% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
172,604
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$89,485
Top 10% nationally
Density
221/sq mi
780.7 sq mi of land
Median age
33.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kaufman County
Texas
Metro area
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Nearest major airport
GVT
35 mi · Majors
Median home value
$320,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.0% is lower than 22% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.3% over the past year, to 98,360 employed residents.

Household income is higher than at least 90% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,546$89,485Top 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$980$34,359Bottom 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$51,872Bottom 31%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate9.7%Bottom 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute38.4 minTop 2%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher26.5%Top 33%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment98,360Top 26%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)7.4%Top 2%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.3%Top 40%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force103,515Top 26%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation68.3%Top 7%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.9%Top 7%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate5.0%Top 22%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.33.3
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.0% 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
202120222023202489k75k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $89,485 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 — Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers128,380$28,070
General and Operations Managers125,090$111,010
Stockers and Order Fillers111,100$37,590
Retail Salespersons100,340$33,400
Customer Service Representatives96,930$44,990
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand81,940$38,510

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.

40% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 40% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
56
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
39.5%
Bottom 43% in Texas
Reading proficiency
40.4%
Bottom 45% in Texas
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
NORTH FORNEY H SFORNEY ISD2,64816.9
FORNEY H SFORNEY ISD2,58216.6
CRANDALL H SCRANDALL ISD1,99915.6
TERRELL H STERRELL ISD1,45816.6
KAUFMAN H SKAUFMAN ISD1,29414.5
MABANK H SMABANK ISD1,17313.8
HERMAN FURLOUGH JR MIDDLETERRELL ISD1,16616.729%32%
CRANDALL MIDDLECRANDALL ISD1,03816.248%45%
NORMAN J HKAUFMAN ISD96116.339%43%
JACKSON MIDDLEFORNEY ISD80714.7
NOBLE REEDCRANDALL ISD80019.031%38%
RHODES ISFORNEY ISD74614.3

60.3% 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 $1,554 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
20.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,554
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$320,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.59Top 29%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate78.1%Top 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±29754,130Top 16%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$97$1,554Top 7%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,354$320,900Top 16%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.8%Top 16%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.8%Bottom 9%of 3,2222024 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
94/ 100
Top 1% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, 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 34% since 2020, reaching 197,829 in 2024.

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

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

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 1% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 12.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
2,133
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.4
Top 4% nationally
Year over year
+60%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
1.4%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024198k147k
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
2020202120222023202420252k1k
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2020 (−3%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 96°F and January a low of 36°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 38.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 46, in the Good band, and about 8 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station TERRELL MUNI AP, 7.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index67.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation38.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low36°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high96°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10082024 calendar year
Median air quality index46.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing39°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
46
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
67
90th percentile index
Days above 100
8
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

80 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailElevated
TornadoHigh
Cold waveModerate
WildfireModerate
Winter weatherModerate
LightningModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, inland flooding, earthquake, hurricane, ice storm, drought, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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

Kaufman County records 6.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.0 per 100,000 residents in Kaufman County.

Homicide
6.5
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.3
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
14.0
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
18.8
per 100,000 residents

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 Kaufman 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 Kaufman County rather than Kaufman County 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

7 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 35 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
MajorsGVT35 mi8,030 ft
Dallas Love FldDAL37 mi8,800 ft
Dallas-Fort Worth IntlDFW48 mi13,401 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
73
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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
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.