Taylor County, TX

County Profile

145,863 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Taylor 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.

67out of 100
Area Score
Top 23% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 22% of 1,463 counties measured69
SchoolsTop 31% of 1,377 counties measured65
GrowthTop 1% of 1,453 counties measured90
Housing affordability901st of 1,462 counties measured71
Climate808th of 1,463 counties measured66
Physical resilience896th of 1,463 counties measured51
Access1,282nd of 1,463 counties measured54
Economic stability909th of 1,463 counties measured51
The quick read

Taylor County ranks in the top 22% of counties measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.9% and median household income of $67,139.

In the public schools here, 51% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.8 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 1,788 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 120% on the prior year.

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
145,863
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,139
Top 44% nationally
Density
159/sq mi
915.5 sq mi of land
Median age
33.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Taylor County
Texas
Metro area
Nearest major airport
SJT
74 mi · San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis Fld
Median home value
$198,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.9%, lower than in 57% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 1.2% over the past year, to 72,485 employed residents.

29% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 75% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$55,80442nd percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$55,31242nd percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,0572024 ACS 5-Year$67,139Top 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,1792024 ACS 5-Year$34,253Bottom 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$58,937Top 40%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year13.4%Bottom 46%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year18.3 minTop 9%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year29.3%Top 25%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year79.0%60th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202672,485Top 30%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+4.4%Top 11%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+1.2%Top 17%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202675,41670th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year79.0%Top 33%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.4%66th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.2%Bottom 29%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.9%Top 43%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year8.1%45th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.62.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.9% 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

202120222023202467k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,139 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 — Abilene, TX

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,930$26,310
Customer Service Representatives2,550$36,830
General and Operations Managers2,120$86,200
Retail Salespersons2,000$29,530
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,820$23,690
Cashiers1,780$27,130

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

51% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 48% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.8 students for every full-time teacher across 44 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
47
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.8
across 44 of them
Math proficiency
50.6%
Top 36% in Texas
Reading proficiency
48.2%
Top 25% in Texas
The 12 largest of 47 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Abilene H SABILENE ISD1,79815.965%38%
Cooper H SABILENE ISD1,57014.447%44%
Wylie H SWYLIE ISD1,53715.876%77%
Wylie West J HWYLIE ISD1,03817.078%69%
Texas Leadership of Abilene · charterTEXAS LEADERSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS83415.436%40%
Wylie East ElWYLIE ISD77614.6——
Mann MiddleABILENE ISD77616.239%40%
Craig MiddleABILENE ISD77114.544%35%
Madison MiddleABILENE ISD77016.045%39%
Austin ElABILENE ISD72917.455%58%
Clack MiddleABILENE ISD69314.141%37%
Long Early Learning CenterABILENE ISD69214.4——

53.1% 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.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 10% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 90.4, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Abilene, TX Metro Area is up 46% over five years, and up 9.0% 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 $2,728 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 $1,276, some 10% above the $1,159 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,276 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $51,000 a year, about 76% of the median household income here of $67,139.

The typical renter household here spends 31% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,159 a month.

A median home at $198,600 costs 2.2 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $89,633, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
90.4

Prices here run about 10% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Abilene, TX Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
30.8%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.2×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,276
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,159
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$198,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Taylor County’s median household income of $67,139, 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
Cost of living indexthe Abilene, TX Metro Area’s figure202390.4Top 22%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Abilene, TX Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+9.0%99th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Abilene, TX Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+46.3%59th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Abilene, TX Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+92.1%48th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.2Top 34%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year60.5%7th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2842024 ACS 5-Year62,19886th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,020Bottom 42%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,653Bottom 40%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,276Bottom 38%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$242024 ACS 5-Year$1,159Bottom 19%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,1422024 ACS 5-Year$198,60056th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1352024 ACS 5-Year$2,72881st percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,8802024 ACS 5-Year$89,633Top 24%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.09%2024 ACS 5-Year1.37%85th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year30.8%Bottom 22%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1812024 ACS 5-Year49559th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.8%20th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year10.9%62nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±6542024 ACS 5-Year7,26487th 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 and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

90/ 100
Top 1% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of 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 4% since 2020, reaching 148,813 in 2024.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 148,813 residents in 2024, up 0.8% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Taylor County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $55,804, close to the $55,312 of households that moved out.

At 12.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
1,788
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.3
Top 4% nationally
Year over year
+120%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
29.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024149k143k
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
−0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
39%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$55,804
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$55,312
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Jones County, TX 422 people · 5.3% of arrivals
  2. Tarrant County, TX 363 people · 4.6% of arrivals
  3. Callahan County, TX 346 people · 4.4% of arrivals
  4. Dallas County, TX 214 people · 2.7% of arrivals
  5. Tom Green County, TX 185 people · 2.3% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Callahan County, TX 502 people · 6.3% of departures
  2. Jones County, TX 463 people · 5.8% of departures
  3. Tarrant County, TX 439 people · 5.5% of departures
  4. Bexar County, TX 232 people · 2.9% of departures
  5. Dallas County, TX 205 people · 2.6% 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

20222023202420251k443
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+33%).

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 34°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 25.2 inches, including 3.7 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 ABILENE RGNL AP, 14.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND3.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals25.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals3.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals34°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals96°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

51 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hail and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 43% 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.

HailHigh
WildfireModerate
DroughtModerate
Strong windModerate
Cold waveModerate

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

Taylor County records 10.9 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 23.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.3 per 100,000 residents in Taylor County.

Homicide
10.9
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
23.8
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
16.3
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
19.7
per 100,000 residents

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 Taylor 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.
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. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. 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 San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis Fld at 74 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year92.1%Top 13%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle74 miBottom 13%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year6.8%Top 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
San Angelo Rgnl/Mathis FldSJT74 mi8,054 ft
Big Spring/Mc Mahon-WrinkleBPG95 mi8,803 ft
Midland Intl Air and Space PortMAF137 mi9,501 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
67
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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
Housing, 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 Taylor 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.