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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-ALPINE-TX · Alpine, TX 6,003 pop · income 26th pct · 1 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Alpine
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Alpine on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hamlet · lowest
38,500
Hamlet · lowest
38,500 median HH income
19.6% of the leader · rank #1
Franklin · near
54,500
Franklin · near
54,500 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #2
Iroquois · near
54,500
Iroquois · near
54,500 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #3
Shelby · near
54,500
Shelby · near
54,500 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #4
Goldfield · near
54,500
Goldfield · near
54,500 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #5
Alpine · this city
54,503
Alpine · this city
54,503 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #6
Las Flores CD… · highest
196,250
Las Flores CD… · highest
196,250 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Alpine on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 6,003.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Alpine - the verdict
Alpine ranks in the 26th percentile for household income and the 96th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
26th
percentile, household income
45th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
96th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Alpine, TX
Texas's Alpine is a small town, with 6,003 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Alpine households earn a median of $54,503 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Alpine's housing stock carries a median value of $207,700, and the median resident age is 44.0 years. About 42.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 61.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 7 residential building permits were authorized in Alpine (Construction Slowdown), down 63% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Alpine reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 198.8 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Alpine's yearly average temperature at 62.8°F with 16.1 inches of precipitation per year and 2.2 inches of snowfall.
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,149 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $223 across Texas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.0 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Alpine's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from within-city variation to population change to housing and income to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Alpine, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 1 Census tracts reveal inside Alpine?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -37 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 7 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in Alpine?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Which cities make useful reference points for Alpine?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Edna (5,994 residents, $60,765 income); Homestead Meadows North (5,987 residents, $55,559 income); Childress (5,964 residents, $59,662 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mocksville, NC (6,001 residents); Erwin, TN (6,001 residents); Greenwood, MO (6,000 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Alpine?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 62.8°F, with 16.1 inches of precipitation and 2.2 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Texas is 49.0 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
62.8°F
Annual precipitation
16.1 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.0
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
What does the journey to work look like in Alpine?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
6.9%
Drive alone
73.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,111 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 42.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
42.3%
Poverty estimate
2.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Alpine?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 198.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 91% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
49.7
Violent rate
149.1
Total reported rate
198.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
42.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime C
149 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living C-
97.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$54,503
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Alpine profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 77/100 (B+) · 42.3%
Violent crime: 59/100 (C) · 149 /100k
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 26/100 (F) · $54,503
Where Alpine sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Alpine's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Alpine highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Alpine, TX (this city): home $207,700, crime 199/100k
Greenwood, MO : home $263,300, crime 471/100k
Port Clinton, OH : home $142,100, crime 1,355/100k
Edna, TX : home $117,500, crime 731/100k
Childress, TX : home $84,200, crime 674/100k
Everman, TX : home $168,100, crime 2,144/100k
Hempstead, TX : home $145,700, crime 1,936/100k
Krum, TX : home $286,300, crime 493/100k
How does Alpine compare to other US cities?
Here's how Alpine stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income26% higher than other cities
Home value45% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety96% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Texas, Alpine ranks #28 of 624 Texas cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Alpine against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Texas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Texas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Alpine near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Alpine ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Alpine only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,004 of 1,520
34th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#532 of 1,505
65th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,287 of 1,663
22nd percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#196 of 1,663
88th percentile in Texas
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Texas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
26th percentile nationally for median household income · 96th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Alpine's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Alpine's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Alpine's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$207,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 55% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Alpine's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,098 of 15,516
More affordable than 35% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,975 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.8×, Alpine sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,098 of 15,516 and #7,975 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$54,503Alpine, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Alpine, TX median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Alpine, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)42.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,003
Median Income
$54,503
Median Home Value
$207,700
Median Age
44.0
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
61.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
42.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
198.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
149.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
49.7
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
62.8°F
Annual Precipitation
16.1"
Annual Snowfall
2.2"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Alpine's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,026 residents
2021
5,998 residents
2022
5,915 residents
2023
6,040 residents
2024
6,022 residents
2025
5,989 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
7
housing units authorized
Single-Family
7
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
19
19
0
$2.2M
2020
21
21
0
$2.5M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
7
7
0
$0.8M
2023
4
4
0
$0.5M
2024
7
7
0
$0.8M
Permit volume decreased 63% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.5%
Carpool
14.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
6.9%
Other
2.3%
Based on 3,111 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Texas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $223
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Texas at $223 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Texas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Alpine. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Texas's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Alpine is $1,149/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Texas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.0 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Texas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Alpine sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Alpine compares to similar-size Texas cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.