78589San Juan, Texas

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 78589.

49out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 13% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5276th of 6,210 published ZIP areas36
Schools4013th of 4,422 published ZIP areas19
GrowthTop 28% of 5,428 published ZIP areas63
Housing affordabilityTop 23% of 6,685 published ZIP areas94
Climate3674th of 6,789 published ZIP areas69
Physical resilience5529th of 6,709 published ZIP areas23
Access5590th of 6,791 published ZIP areas77
Economic stability5795th of 6,742 published ZIP areas35
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 8.2% and the Opportunity signal places 78589 in the bottom 15%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 229 units authorized over the past twelve months, 36% below the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, cold wave and hail.

At a glance

Population
40,231
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$54,285
Bottom 21% nationally
Density
1,579/sq mi
25.5 sq mi of land
Median age
31.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
San Juan
Texas
Metro area
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
Nearest major airport
HRL
32 mi · Valley Intl
Median home value
$120,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 8.2% is lower than 1% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 0.1% over the past year, to 15,857 employed residents.

Median household income of $54,285 is below 79% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,641$54,285Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,165$19,628Bottom 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate24.3%Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.9 minBottom 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher13.8%Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,857Bottom 12%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)4.5%Top 7%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.1%Top 28%June 2026
Labor force17,265Bottom 13%June 2026
Labor force participation59.0%Bottom 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$46,850Bottom 1%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$35,830Bottom 1%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)1.0%Top 6%June 2026
Unemployment rate8.2%Top 1%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202454k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $54,285 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 — McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides46,380$23,960
Fast Food and Counter Workers12,160$22,790
Retail Salespersons8,960$27,420
Customer Service Representatives8,270$35,830
Cashiers7,000$27,020
General and Operations Managers6,480$74,570

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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for San Juan, TX, the city containing this ZIP code.

16% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
15
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
16.2%
Bottom 3% in Texas
Reading proficiency
28.7%
Bottom 13% in Texas
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
PSJA EARLY COLLEGE H SPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD2,30013.4
AUSTIN MIDDLEPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD83312.312%22%
IDEA COLLEGE PREPARATORY SAN JUAN · charterIDEA PUBLIC SCHOOLS74115.48%32%
R YZAGUIRRE MIDDLEPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD73612.312%22%
EDITH & ETHEL CARMAN ELPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD68617.617%28%
IDEA ACADEMY SAN JUAN · charterIDEA PUBLIC SCHOOLS61718.721%29%
ARNOLDO CANTU SR ELPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD59817.132%45%
ALFRED SORENSEN ELPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD58317.121%31%
AMANDA GARZA-PENA ELPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD55716.410%43%
DRS REED - MOCK ELPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD50915.424%31%
SGT LEONEL TREVINO ELPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD40116.012%18%
JOHN DOEDYNS ELPHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD39114.09%23%

92.1% 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 $937 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.2 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
20.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$937
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$120,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.22Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate79.3%Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±58012,747Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$63$937Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,866$120,400Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.7%Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.1%Bottom 38%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 →
Development Momentum
63/ 100
Top 28% of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 6.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
229
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.3
Top 23% nationally
Year over year
−36%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for San Juan, TX, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 99°F and January a low of 53°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 22.2 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 54, in the Moderate band, and about 24 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MCALLEN MILLER INTL AP, 6.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index87.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation22.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low53°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high99°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100242024 calendar year
Median air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing27°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
54
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
87
90th percentile index
Days above 100
24
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

23 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Cold waveHigh
HurricaneElevated
HailElevated
DroughtModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, ice storm, inland flooding, tornado, winter weather, strong wind, wildfire, earthquake, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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.

Hidalgo County records 3.3 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 5.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 4.2 per 100,000 residents in Hidalgo County.

Homicide
3.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
5.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
4.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
6.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Hidalgo 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 78589 rather than 78589 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 32 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Valley IntlHRL32 mi9,400 ft
Laredo IntlLRD125 mi8,743 ft
Victoria RgnlVCT202 mi9,111 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
49
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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)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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.

78589 vs San Juan

How this ZIP area compares with San Juan as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

78589
San Juan
Median household income
$54,285
vs
$56,562
Per capita income
$19,628
vs
$20,047
Population density
1,579/sq mi
vs
2,984/sq mi
Median home value
$120,400
vs
$126,700
Median gross rent
$937
vs
$961
Homeownership rate
79.3%
vs
79.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
13.8%
vs
14.8%
Poverty rate
24.3%
vs
22.4%
Median age
31.2
vs
30.7

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.