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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-DRIPPING-SPRINGS-TX · Dripping Springs, TX 6,322 pop · income 81st 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 Dripping Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dripping Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Salida del So… · lowest
29,631
Salida del So… · lowest
29,631 median HH income
15.7% of the leader · rank #1
Hidden Valley · near
106,071
Hidden Valley · near
106,071 median HH income
56.4% of the leader · rank #2
Stallings · near
106,074
Stallings · near
106,074 median HH income
56.4% of the leader · rank #3
Morton Grove · near
106,078
Morton Grove · near
106,078 median HH income
56.4% of the leader · rank #4
Dripping Spri… · this city
106,103
Dripping Spri… · this city
106,103 median HH income
56.4% of the leader · rank #5
Hampton · near
106,111
Hampton · near
106,111 median HH income
56.4% of the leader · rank #6
Huntington Wo… · highest
188,229
Huntington Wo… · highest
188,229 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 Dripping Springs 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: 6,322.
Dripping Springs ranks in the 81st percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
81st
percentile, household income
88th
percentile, home value
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: Dripping Springs, TX
6,322 people live in Dripping Springs, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Dripping Springs brings in $106,103 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.5%. Dripping Springs's housing stock carries a median value of $579,300, and the median resident age is 37.3 years. About 63.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 63.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 491 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 52% from five years earlier. NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 67.4°F with 35.7 inches of precipitation per year and 0.3 inches of snowfall.
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Texas scores 97.1 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,149 per month statewide. 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 Dripping Springs'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 schools and households to climate and hazard context to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Dripping Springs, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; 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 Dripping Springs?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Dripping Springs?
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.
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Crockett (6,318 residents, $41,528 income); Gladewater (6,297 residents, $52,100 income); Penitas (6,355 residents, $52,857 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Huntington Woods, MI (6,322 residents); Clyde, OH (6,322 residents); West Yarmouth, MA (6,323 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 does the education layer cover for Dripping Springs?
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 4 public schools within the city match. 63.1% 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.
What physical conditions frame life in Dripping Springs?
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 67.4°F, with 35.7 inches of precipitation and 0.3 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.
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.
Population change
Is Dripping Springs growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +6,045 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +118.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 491 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.
2020 estimate
5,122
2025 estimate
11,167
Period change
+118.0%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Dripping Springs?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 48.2%. 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. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
48.2%
Work from home
37.9%
Public transit
0.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,840 workers age 16+.
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 A+
0.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
63.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$106,103
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Dripping Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 96/100 (A+) · 0.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 93/100 (A+) · 63.1%
Household income: 80/100 (A-) · $106,103
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
How does Dripping Springs compare to other US cities?
Where Dripping Springs sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income81% higher than other cities
Home value88% pricier 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 Dripping Springs 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 Dripping Springs near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dripping Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dripping Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#217 of 1,520
86th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#58 of 1,505
96th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,429 of 1,663
14th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#61 of 1,663
96th 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
81st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Dripping Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$579,30012th percentilemore affordable than 12% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,521 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,122 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.5×, Dripping Springs sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,521 of 15,516 and #10,122 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$106,103Dripping Springs, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dripping Springs, 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 Dripping Springs, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)63.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,322
Median Income
$106,103
Median Home Value
$579,300
Median Age
37.3
Poverty Rate
0.5%
Labor force participation
63.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
63.1%
Climate
Avg Temperature
67.4°F
Annual Precipitation
35.7"
Annual Snowfall
0.3"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Dripping Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,122 residents
2021
6,056 residents
2022
7,075 residents
2023
8,733 residents
2024
10,218 residents
2025
11,167 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
491
housing units authorized
Single-Family
491
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
77.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
323
323
0
$111.0M
2020
431
431
0
$139.5M
2021
472
472
0
$154.9M
2022
785
604
181
$68.2M
2023
703
531
172
$207.0M
2024
491
491
0
$274.0M
Permit volume increased 52% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
48.2%
Carpool
4.2%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
37.9%
Other
7.6%
Based on 2,840 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 Dripping Springs. 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 Dripping Springs 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 Dripping Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dripping Springs 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, 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.