Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetTX-BIG-SANDY-TX · Big Sandy, TX 1,215 pop · income 9th pct
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 Big Sandy
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Big Sandy on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Granville · lowest
32,015
Granville · lowest
32,015 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #1
Big Sandy · this city
41,806
Big Sandy · this city
41,806 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #2
Yeehaw Juncti… · near
41,809
Yeehaw Juncti… · near
41,809 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #3
Lynn · near
41,811
Lynn · near
41,811 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #4
St. Donatus · near
41,813
St. Donatus · near
41,813 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #5
Sayre · near
41,813
Sayre · near
41,813 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #6
Kaanapali · highest
134,375
Kaanapali · highest
134,375 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 Big Sandy 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: 1,215.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Big Sandy - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Big Sandy lands in the 9th percentile for household income and the 56th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
9th
percentile, household income
17th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
56th
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: Big Sandy, TX
Big Sandy is a small town in Texas, home to 1,215 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Big Sandy brings in $41,806 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 28.1%. Typical homes in Big Sandy are valued around $119,800, and the median resident age is 36.2 years. About 16.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 55.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 2 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 100% from five years earlier. Big Sandy reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1198.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,149 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Texas run around $223, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Big Sandy'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to population change to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Big Sandy, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Big Sandy?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 28.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Big Sandy?
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.
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Florence (1,215 residents, $72,743 income); Tioga (1,212 residents, $86,477 income); Newark (1,221 residents, $57,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gallant, AL (1,215 residents); North Utica, IL (1,215 residents); Waterflow, NM (1,215 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Big Sandy?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1198.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 47% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Is Big Sandy growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +105 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +8.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Big Sandy?
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.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 16.5% 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.
Poverty estimate
28.1%
Bachelor's degree+
16.5%
Matched public schools
8
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Big Sandy?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
78.5%
Work from home
3.3%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 539 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 28.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Big Sandy, TX
21/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
449 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$41,806
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
28.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Big Sandy profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 24/100 (F) · 16.5%
Violent crime: 19/100 (F) · 449 /100k
Household income: 9/100 (F) · $41,806
Poverty rate: 2/100 (F) · 28.1%
Where Big Sandy sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Big Sandy'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 - Big Sandy highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Big Sandy, TX (this city): home $119,800, crime 1,199/100k
North Utica, IL : home $212,000, crime 598/100k
Florence, TX : home $206,500, crime 83/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Big Sandy compare to other US cities?
Here's how Big Sandy stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value17% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety56% 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, Big Sandy ranks #279 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 Big Sandy 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 Big Sandy near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Big Sandy ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Big Sandy only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,329 of 1,520
13th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#975 of 1,505
35th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#145 of 1,663
91st percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#858 of 1,663
48th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income · 56th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Big Sandy's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Big Sandy'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 Big Sandy's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$119,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 83% 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
Big Sandy's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,942 of 15,516
More affordable than 62% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,118 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Big Sandy sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,942 of 15,516 and #5,118 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$41,806Big Sandy, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Big Sandy, 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 Big Sandy, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)28.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,215
Median Income
$41,806
Median Home Value
$119,800
Median Age
36.2
Poverty Rate
28.1%
Labor force participation
55.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1198.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
449.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
749.1
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.
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Big Sandy's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,234 residents
2021
1,265 residents
2022
1,289 residents
2023
1,316 residents
2024
1,332 residents
2025
1,339 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
6
6
0
$0.7M
2021
7
7
0
$0.8M
2022
2
2
0
$0.2M
2023
2
2
0
$0.2M
2024
2
2
0
$0.2M
Permit volume increased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.5%
Carpool
12.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
4.5%
Work from Home
3.3%
Other
1.6%
Based on 539 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 Big Sandy. 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 Big Sandy 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 Big Sandy sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Big Sandy 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, 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.