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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-COOL-TX · Cool, TX 116 pop · income 23rd 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 Cool
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cool on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Plevna · lowest
34,375
Plevna · lowest
34,375 median HH income
22.8% of the leader · rank #1
Cool · this city
52,188
Cool · this city
52,188 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #2
Grayling · near
52,188
Grayling · near
52,188 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #3
Traver · near
52,188
Traver · near
52,188 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #4
Iron City · near
52,188
Iron City · near
52,188 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #5
Tiger · near
52,188
Tiger · near
52,188 median HH income
34.6% of the leader · rank #6
Round Top · highest
150,625
Round Top · highest
150,625 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Cool on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 116.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Cool lands in the 23rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
23rd
percentile, household income
40th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Cool, TX
116 people live in Cool, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Cool report a median income of $52,188 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.7%. The median resident age is 52.0 years. 23.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 60.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Natural-hazard exposure scores 49.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Cool'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cool, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Cool?
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 77.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Cool?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Airport Heights (116 residents); Springlake (117 residents); Spofford (114 residents, $62,375 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bon Air, AL (116 residents); Hedrick, IN (116 residents); Larrabee, IA (116 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.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +33 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +15.8% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Poverty rate D
7.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$52,188
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Cool profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 49/100 (D) · 7.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 43/100 (D) · 23.1%
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $52,188
How does Cool compare to other US cities?
Where Cool sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cool 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 Cool near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cool ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cool only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,071 of 1,520
30th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#908 of 1,663
45th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#561 of 1,663
66th 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$52,188Cool, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cool, 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 Cool, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
116
Median Income
$52,188
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
52.0
Poverty Rate
7.7%
Labor force participation
60.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.1%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cool's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
209 residents
2021
215 residents
2022
223 residents
2023
232 residents
2024
238 residents
2025
242 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.3%
Carpool
16.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
6.1%
Based on 66 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 Cool. 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 Cool 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 Cool sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cool 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, 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.