Garland, Texas

Area Profile

246,844 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Garland, in Dallas County.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 49% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 16 sources
OpportunityTop 41% of 4,199 cities measured60
SchoolsTop 43% of 4,162 cities measured55
Growth2,934th of 4,224 cities measured41
Housing affordability2,203rd of 4,218 cities measured66
Climate3,011th of 4,225 cities measured63
Physical resilience2,304th of 4,226 cities measured52
AccessTop 24% of 4,226 cities measured97
Economic stability2,444th of 4,226 cities measured54
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.5% and median household income $76,320, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured.

In the public schools here, 50% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.7 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 389 units authorized over the past twelve months, 29% 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
246,844
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$76,320
Top 37% nationally
Density
4,341/sq mi
56.9 sq mi of land
Median age
35.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Texas
Nearest major airport
DAL
14 mi · Dallas Love Fld
Median home value
$270,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.5% — higher than in all but 43% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.2% over the past year, to 129,199 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsDallas County, TX’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$76,62058th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftDallas County, TX’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$83,53068th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$2,1112024 ACS 5-Year$76,320Top 37%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$9322024 ACS 5-Year$31,917Bottom 44%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year12.9%Bottom 42%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.5 min2024 ACS 5-Year32.3 minBottom 25%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year25.4%Top 39%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year72.7%35th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 2026129,199Top 39%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+3.0%Top 14%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−0.2%Top 37%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceJuly 2026135,27761st percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year81.0%Top 40%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageDallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$70,630Top 45%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageDallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$51,440Top 48%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.9%84th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.4%Bottom 23%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.5%Bottom 43%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year12.4%69th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.23.3
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.5% in July 2026. It has been holding roughly steady, 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

202120222023202476k65k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $76,320 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

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.

50% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 49% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.7 students for every full-time teacher across 58 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
61
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.7
across 58 of them
Math proficiency
49.9%
Top 49% in Texas
Reading proficiency
48.5%
Top 37% in Texas
The 12 largest of 61 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
N Garland H SGARLAND ISD2,92917.559%57%
Garland H SGARLAND ISD2,33514.956%45%
Lakeview Centennial H SGARLAND ISD2,07315.533%59%
S Garland H SGARLAND ISD2,00115.244%31%
Naaman Forest H SGARLAND ISD1,94915.037%45%
Jackson Technology CenterGARLAND ISD1,15716.158%60%
Classical Center at Brandenburg MiddleGARLAND ISD1,05616.262%61%
Webb MiddleGARLAND ISD98916.040%40%
Austin Acad for ExcellGARLAND ISD95115.674%74%
Iltexas Garland El · charterINTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF TEXAS (ILTEXAS)94115.940%45%
Lyles Collegiate MiddleGARLAND ISD86915.5——
Sellers MiddleGARLAND ISD85215.238%35%

77.0% 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 2% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 102.5, 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 Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division is up 35% over five years, and up 0.5% 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 $4,263 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.57% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $2,124, some 29% above the $1,641 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $2,124 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $84,900 a year, about 111% of the median household income here of $76,320.

The typical renter household here spends 34% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,641 a month.

A median home at $270,800 costs 2.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $93,537, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
102.5

Prices here run about 2% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, 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
33.7%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$2,124
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,641
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$270,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Garland’s median household income of $76,320, 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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area’s figure2023102.5Bottom 42%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division’s figure2026 Q2+0.5%11th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division’s figure2026 Q2+35.4%28th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX Metropolitan Division’s figure2026 Q2+92.5%49th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.9Bottom 37%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year61.6%23rd percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1,3672024 ACS 5-Year86,21699th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,815Bottom 27%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$2,672Bottom 30%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$2,124Bottom 28%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$332024 ACS 5-Year$1,641Bottom 16%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$5,4452024 ACS 5-Year$270,80068th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1312024 ACS 5-Year$4,26385th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,9322024 ACS 5-Year$93,537Top 33%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.06%2024 ACS 5-Year1.57%81st percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year33.7%Bottom 24%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2062024 ACS 5-Year27795th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.3%54th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year4.6%37th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±5692024 ACS 5-Year4,26299th 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 and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

41/ 100
Ranks 2,934 of 4,224 published city profiles
Permitting has been falling for the last 2 years of a series running from 2020 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 2% since 2020, reaching 250,431 in 2024.

92% of the 389 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 Dallas County, which contains Garland, lost about 1.4% 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 $76,620, below the $83,530 of households that moved out.

At 1.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
389
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.6
Bottom 35% nationally
Year over year
−29%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
92.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024250k244k
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
−1.4%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
39%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$76,620
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$83,530
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Tarrant County, TX 18,489 people · 15% of arrivals
  2. Collin County, TX 15,222 people · 13% of arrivals
  3. Denton County, TX 10,827 people · 9.0% of arrivals
  4. Kaufman County, TX 3,843 people · 3.2% of arrivals
  5. Harris County, TX 3,309 people · 2.8% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Tarrant County, TX 25,211 people · 17% of departures
  2. Collin County, TX 23,376 people · 16% of departures
  3. Denton County, TX 17,244 people · 12% of departures
  4. Kaufman County, TX 9,338 people · 6.3% of departures
  5. Ellis County, TX 6,687 people · 4.5% 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 Dallas County, TX. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2020202120222023202420252k159
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−59%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 97°F and January a low of 38°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 38.3 inches, including 1.7 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 55, in the Moderate band, and about 19 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DALLAS LOVE FLD, 13.7 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year842024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals38.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals1.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals38°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals97°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year192024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year552024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals40°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
55
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
84
90th percentile index
Days above 100
19
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. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

52 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, heat wave and hail, with inland flooding alone responsible for 33% of it. Inland flooding and heat wave are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

HailHigh
TornadoHigh

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, cold wave, ice storm, inland flooding, winter weather, strong wind, lightning, earthquake, wildfire, hurricane, landslide, drought, 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
191
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,671
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.

Garland's police department reported 191 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,671.

Dallas County records 7.8 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 13.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 21.9 per 100,000 residents in Dallas County.

Homicide
7.8
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.6
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
21.9
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
11.2
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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Garland’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 Garland (Dallas County) rather than Garland 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.

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

7 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Dallas Love Fld at 14 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year94.9%Top 25%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle14 miTop 38%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle7Top 13%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year3.7%Top 29%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Dallas Love FldDAL14 mi8,800 ft
Dallas-Fort Worth IntlDFW24 mi13,401 ft
MajorsGVT35 mi8,030 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
58
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Other cities in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
DallasDallas County1,307,93060Dallas vs Garland
Fort WorthTarrant County963,19462Fort Worth vs Garland
ArlingtonTarrant County397,74261Arlington vs Garland
PlanoCollin County290,59470
IrvingDallas County256,49259
FriscoCollin County219,30475
McKinneyCollin County210,60072
Grand PrairieDallas County201,88362
DentonDenton County152,86667
MesquiteDallas County149,29956
CarrolltonDenton County133,74065
LewisvilleDenton County131,08065

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.

Compare

Put Garland side by side with a similar place.

Garland vs CharlotteGarland vs Orem

Moving to Garland from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

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
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
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
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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
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 Garland

5 ZIP areas

Every ZIP area in Garland 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 Garland 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
7504064,606$74,519$266,300—
7504363,152$76,778$269,400—
7504447,529$92,178$344,30060
7504238,112$64,266$240,200—
7504132,943$70,308$232,100—