El Campo, Texas

Area Profile

12,202 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for El Campo, in Wharton County.

41out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 4% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity3,810th of 4,199 cities measured33
Schools3,142nd of 4,162 cities measured30
Growth3,690th of 4,224 cities measured28
Housing affordability2,940th of 4,218 cities measured57
ClimateTop 39% of 4,225 cities measured72
Physical resilience3,366th of 4,226 cities measured25
Access3,548th of 4,226 cities measured75
Economic stability3,488th of 4,226 cities measured37
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 5.3% and the Opportunity signal places El Campo in the bottom 9%. The unemployment rate is published for Wharton County, TX, which contains El Campo, rather than for El Campo alone.

In the public schools here, 45% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.1 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 32 units authorized over the past twelve months, 52% below 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
12,202
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,017
Top 50% nationally
Density
1,323/sq mi
9.2 sq mi of land
Median age
33.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Texas
Micro area
Nearest major airport
VCT
46 mi · Victoria Rgnl
Median home value
$201,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Wharton County, TX, which contains El Campo, is 5.3% — higher than in all but 17% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Wharton County, TX, which contains El Campo, fell 1.2% over the past year, to 18,388 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsWharton County, TX’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$58,24623rd percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftWharton County, TX’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$53,58312th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$12,8872024 ACS 5-Year$67,017Top 50%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,0712024 ACS 5-Year$28,414Bottom 31%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year21.0%Bottom 21%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.4 minTop 32%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year17.6%Bottom 42%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year77.7%52nd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentWharton County, TX’s figureJuly 202618,388Bottom 20%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Wharton County, TX’s figureJuly 2026−1.8%Bottom 27%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Wharton County, TX’s figureJuly 2026−1.2%Bottom 39%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceWharton County, TX’s figureJuly 202619,41321st percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year78.2%Top 50%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.2%76th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Wharton County, TX’s figureJuly 2026+0.6%Bottom 15%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateWharton County, TX’s figureJuly 20265.3%Bottom 17%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year2.2%23rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202467k53k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,017 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Wharton County, TX, which contains this city.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 39% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.1 students for every full-time teacher across 5 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
45.1%
Bottom 29% in Texas
Reading proficiency
39.1%
Bottom 22% in Texas
All 5 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
El Campo H SEL CAMPO ISD1,00214.334%40%
El Campo MiddleEL CAMPO ISD70715.040%31%
Hutchins ElEL CAMPO ISD67817.860%45%
Northside ElEL CAMPO ISD47119.655%41%
Myatt ElEL CAMPO ISD42116.8——

72.5% 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 $3,639 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.81% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,100, close to the $1,071 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,100 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $44,000 a year, about 66% of the median household income here of $67,017.

The typical renter household here spends 39% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,071 a month.

A median home at $201,400 costs 2.3 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $87,331, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
38.6%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.3×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,100
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,071
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$201,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against El Campo’s median household income of $67,017, 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%47th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Texas’s figure2026 Q2+43.8%53rd percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Texas’s figure2026 Q2+97.6%57th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.32024 ACS 5-Year2.3Top 44%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year60.0%20th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3232024 ACS 5-Year4,78088th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$838Top 10%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,500Top 18%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,100Top 14%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$982024 ACS 5-Year$1,071Bottom 41%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$23,0552024 ACS 5-Year$201,40054th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$7552024 ACS 5-Year$3,63980th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$8,3492024 ACS 5-Year$87,331Top 39%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.43%2024 ACS 5-Year1.81%88th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year38.6%Bottom 13%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±592024 ACS 5-Year5082nd percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.0%62nd percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year7.9%55th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1622024 ACS 5-Year43088th percentileof 32,3302024 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

28/ 100
Ranks 3,690 of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was broadly flat, 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 12,176 in 2024.

63% of the 32 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

Federal tax returns show Wharton County, which contains El Campo, lost about 0.2% 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 $58,246, above the $53,583 of households that moved out.

At 2.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
32
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.6
Top 50% nationally
Year over year
−52%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
62.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202412k12k
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, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.2%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
8%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$58,246
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$53,583
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Fort Bend County, TX 536 people · 34% of arrivals
  2. Harris County, TX 284 people · 18% of arrivals
  3. Matagorda County, TX 98 people · 6.2% of arrivals
  4. Brazoria County, TX 60 people · 3.8% of arrivals
  5. Colorado County, TX 59 people · 3.7% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Fort Bend County, TX 431 people · 26% of departures
  2. Harris County, TX 239 people · 14% of departures
  3. Matagorda County, TX 133 people · 8.0% of departures
  4. Brazoria County, TX 86 people · 5.2% of departures
  5. Colorado County, TX 56 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. This is the figure for Wharton County, TX. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025696.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+833%).

Weather & climate

7 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 42°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 49.6 inches.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station EL CAMPO, 0.4 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals49.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals42°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals95°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals31°F1991-2020 Normals

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

Physical risk

25 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, inland flooding and cold wave, with hurricane alone responsible for 41% of it. Cold wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

HurricaneHigh
DroughtModerate
HailModerate
Inland floodingModerate

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

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.

Violent crime
396
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,640
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

El Campo's police department reported 396 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, higher than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,640.

Wharton County has a modeled homicide rate of about 5.5 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 24.0 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 15.8 per 100,000 residents in Wharton County.

Homicide
5.5
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
24.0
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
15.8
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
15.4
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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by El Campo’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. 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 the county around El Campo (Wharton County) rather than El Campo itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and 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.

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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Victoria Rgnl at 46 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year82.5%Bottom 24%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle46 miBottom 15%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Bottom 38%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year15.3%Bottom 21%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Victoria RgnlVCT46 mi9,111 ft
Sugar Land RgnlSGR47 mi8,000 ft
EllingtonEFD73 mi9,001 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
41
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El Campo vs Cañon CityEl Campo vs Tehachapi

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
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.

ZIP codes in El Campo

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in El Campo with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track El Campo closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
7743718,238$72,200$184,700—