Fort Bliss, Texas
Area Profile
11,460 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Fort Bliss, in El Paso County.
Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.
Unemployment is 4.9% and median household income $57,111, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.
Rent takes 35% of median household income here, at or above the threshold conventionally called cost-burdened.
A major airport is 19 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment fell 0.4% over the past year, to 400,658 employed residents.
33% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 74% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$4,152 | $57,111 | Bottom 35%of 29,573 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,803 | $22,047 | Bottom 13%of 31,420 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 13.0% | Top 42%of 31,900 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 15.0 min | Bottom 6%of 31,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 33.4% | Top 26%of 31,919 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 400,658 | Top 18%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 5.2% | Top 6%of 3,903 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -0.4% | Top 38%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 421,283 | Top 18%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 75.8% | Top 8%of 31,933 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $51,870 | Bottom 2%of 3,658 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $39,510 | Bottom 1%of 3,658 | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.5% | Top 29%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.9% | Top 28%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 14,310 | $23,200 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 13,520 | $23,030 |
| Customer Service Representatives | 10,680 | $37,640 |
| Retail Salespersons | 10,070 | $27,330 |
| General and Operations Managers | 7,850 | $77,770 |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 7,850 | $49,270 |
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.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for El Paso County, TX, which contains this city.
Schools
How it’s calculated →36% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 50% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 16.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MILAM EL | EL PASO ISD | 941 | 18.1 | 40% | 54% |
| BLISS EL | EL PASO ISD | 459 | 13.1 | 26% | 42% |
61.0% 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 $1,654 takes 35% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homeownership rate | 0.0% | Bottom 1%of 31,843 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±241 | 2,459 | Top 20%of 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$58 | $1,654 | Top 16%of 23,432 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 34.8% | Top 3%of 23,201 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 11.3% | Top 45%of 32,001 | 2024 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 →No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.
Weather & climate
5 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 35°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 8.8 inches, including 2.8 inches of snow.
Air quality measures a median index of 67, in the Moderate band, and about 63 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| 90th percentile air quality index | 112.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Annual precipitation | 8.8" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 2.8" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 35°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 96°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Days above AQI 100 | 63 | 2024 calendar year |
| Median air quality index | 67.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 38°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
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
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hail, cold wave and drought.
Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, heat wave, inland flooding, strong wind, earthquake, wildfire, ice storm, landslide, hurricane, tornado, 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.
Safety
How it’s measured →These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
El Paso County records 3.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 12.3 per 100,000 residents in El Paso County.
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 El Paso 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 Fort Bliss rather than Fort Bliss 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 and full cost of living
- No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. 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
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 19 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dona Ana County Intl Jetport | DNA | 19 mi | 9,550 ft |
| Alamogordo-White Sands Rgnl | ALM | 73 mi | 9,207 ft |
| Deming Muni | DMN | 84 mi | 8,018 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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Other cities in El Paso, TX
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Paso | El Paso County | 680,130 | 61 | vs Fort Bliss |
| Socorro | El Paso County | 37,123 | 55 | vs Fort Bliss |
| Horizon City | El Paso County | 23,668 | 62 | vs Fort Bliss |
| San Elizario | El Paso County | 10,116 | — | vs Fort Bliss |
Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Fort Bliss side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
| Climate | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System Daily Air Quality Index by county | 2024 calendar year | Annually, 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.