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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-BROWNWOOD-TX · Brownwood, TX 18,805 pop · income 16th pct · 13 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 Brownwood
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Brownwood on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Palestine · lowest
46,228
Palestine · lowest
46,228 median HH income
23.7% of the leader · rank #1
Hillsdale · near
47,817
Hillsdale · near
47,817 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #2
Cumberland · near
47,819
Cumberland · near
47,819 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #3
Brownwood · this city
47,821
Brownwood · this city
47,821 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #4
Ponchatoula · near
47,821
Ponchatoula · near
47,821 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #5
Icard · near
47,825
Icard · near
47,825 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #6
Steiner Ranch · highest
195,181
Steiner Ranch · highest
195,181 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 Brownwood 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: 18,805.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Brownwood - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Brownwood lands in the 16th percentile for household income and the 21st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
16th
percentile, household income
19th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
21st
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: Brownwood, TX
18,805 people live in Brownwood, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Brownwood brings in $47,821 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.5%. Brownwood's housing stock carries a median value of $123,700, and the median resident age is 36.3 years. 18.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 56.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 21 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 75% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2608.9 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 65.6°F with 30.6 inches of precipitation per year and 1.3 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,149 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Texas's average monthly utility costs around $223 (state average). The average commute for Brownwood workers runs 13.9 minutes, with 83.6% driving alone and 3.7% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 49.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Brownwood'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 climate and hazard context to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to population change to work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Brownwood, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Brownwood?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 65.6°F, with 30.6 inches of precipitation and 1.3 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.
What can 13 Census tracts reveal inside Brownwood?
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.
PlainCities matches 13 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Brownwood?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are La Marque (18,833 residents, $70,632 income); Palestine (18,888 residents, $46,228 income); Steiner Ranch (18,683 residents, $195,181 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are St. Marys, GA (18,805 residents); Martinsburg, WV (18,805 residents); Winthrop, MA (18,807 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.
Is Brownwood growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -171 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 21 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Brownwood?
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 83.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.9 minutes.
Public transit
1.1%
Work from home
3.7%
Drive alone
83.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 8,438 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Brownwood?
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 2608.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 14% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2246.8
Violent rate
362.0
Total reported rate
2608.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Brownwood?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.5%, 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.
Household income
$47,821
Home value
$123,700
Value / income
2.6×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Brownwood?
The NCES join finds 9 public schools within the city match. 18.7% 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
9
Bachelor's degree+
18.7%
Poverty estimate
15.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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
18.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
362 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
15.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$47,821
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Brownwood profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 18.7%
Violent crime: 25/100 (F) · 362 /100k
Poverty rate: 22/100 (F) · 15.5%
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,821
Where Brownwood sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Brownwood'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 - Brownwood highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Brownwood, TX (this city): home $123,700, crime 2,609/100k
St. Marys, GA : home $259,300, crime 1,428/100k
Winthrop, MA : home $606,900, crime 681/100k
Weirton, WV : home $122,800, crime 468/100k
La Marque, TX : home $189,400, crime 2,799/100k
Palestine, TX : home $153,400, crime 1,863/100k
Seagoville, TX : home $221,300, crime 1,633/100k
Crowley, TX : home $241,500, crime 1,689/100k
Terrell, TX : home $190,000, crime 1,862/100k
How does Brownwood compare to other US cities?
Here's how Brownwood stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income16% higher than other cities
Home value19% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety21% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Texas and the picture shifts: Brownwood ranks #534 of 624 Texas cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Brownwood 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 Brownwood near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Brownwood ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Brownwood only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,186 of 1,520
22nd percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#951 of 1,505
37th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#483 of 1,663
71st percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#737 of 1,663
56th 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
16th percentile nationally for median household income · 21st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Brownwood's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Brownwood'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 Brownwood's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$123,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 81% 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
Brownwood's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,438 of 15,516
More affordable than 71% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#429 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.6×, Brownwood sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,438 of 15,516 and #429 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$47,821Brownwood, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Brownwood, 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 Brownwood, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
18,805
Median Income
$47,821
Median Home Value
$123,700
Median Age
36.3
Poverty Rate
15.5%
Labor force participation
56.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2608.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
362.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2246.8
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
65.6°F
Annual Precipitation
30.6"
Annual Snowfall
1.3"
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Brownwood's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
18,806 residents
2021
18,736 residents
2022
18,733 residents
2023
18,677 residents
2024
18,768 residents
2025
18,635 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
21
housing units authorized
Single-Family
17
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
12
12
0
$1.9M
2020
13
9
4
$2.2M
2021
11
11
0
$1.8M
2022
14
12
2
$1.5M
2023
122
122
0
$11.0M
2024
21
17
4
$2.5M
Permit volume increased 75% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.9 minutes
Drive Alone
83.6%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
1.1%
Walk
1.8%
Work from Home
3.7%
Other
1.1%
Based on 8,438 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 Brownwood. 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 Brownwood 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 Brownwood sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Brownwood 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.