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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-EARLY-TX · Early, TX 3,159 pop · income 49th 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 Early
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Early on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Combes · lowest
42,880
Combes · lowest
42,880 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #1
Early · this city
69,375
Early · this city
69,375 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #2
Modesto · near
69,375
Modesto · near
69,375 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #3
Seaton · near
69,375
Seaton · near
69,375 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #4
Hawarden · near
69,375
Hawarden · near
69,375 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #5
Long Island · near
69,375
Long Island · near
69,375 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #6
Annetta · highest
173,750
Annetta · highest
173,750 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 Early 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: 3,159.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Early - the verdict
Nationally, Early sits in the 49th percentile for household income and the 41st percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
49th
percentile, household income
34th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
41st
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: Early, TX
3,159 people live in Early, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Early households earn a median of $69,375 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.3%. Home values in Early run a median of $170,700, and the median resident age is 36.2 years. Educational attainment runs 28.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 63.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 99% from five years earlier. Early reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1660.0 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Texas's average monthly utility costs around $223 (state average). 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 Early'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 housing and income to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Early, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, 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. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Early?
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 79.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Early?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.3%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 28.5% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Early?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Combes (3,157 residents, $42,880 income); Reno city (Parker and Tarrant Counties) (3,156 residents, $92,857 income); Grand Saline (3,166 residents, $50,568 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are East Hampton, CT (3,159 residents); San Castle, FL (3,159 residents); Port Washington North, NY (3,159 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.
Population change
Is Early growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 +37 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+1.2%
2025 estimate
3,117
2020 estimate
3,080
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Early?
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 1660.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 27% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1260.4
Violent rate
399.6
Total reported rate
1660.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 6.3% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
D
City profile score · Early, TX
47/100
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.
Poverty rate C
6.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C
28.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; 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.
Household income D
$69,375
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
400 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Early profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 57/100 (C) · 6.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.5%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 48/100 (D) · $69,375
Violent crime: 22/100 (F) · 400 /100k
Where Early sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Early'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 - Early highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Early, TX (this city): home $170,700, crime 1,660/100k
East Hampton, CT : home $315,900, crime 443/100k
Raymond, WA : home $214,800, crime 703/100k
Combes, TX : home $106,800, crime 1,385/100k
Grand Saline, TX : home $116,200, crime 1,150/100k
Port Aransas, TX : home $490,200, crime 5,386/100k
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 Early compare to other US cities?
Where Early sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income49% higher than other cities
Home value34% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety41% 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: Early ranks #379 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 Early 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 Early near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Early ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Early only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#618 of 1,520
59th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#690 of 1,505
54th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,004 of 1,663
39th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#416 of 1,663
75th 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
49th percentile nationally for median household income · 41st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Early's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Early'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 Early's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$170,700Among the most affordablemore affordable than 66% 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
Early's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,795 of 15,516
More affordable than 76% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,434 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Early sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,795 of 15,516 and #3,434 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
$69,375Early, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Early, 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 Early, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,159
Median Income
$69,375
Median Home Value
$170,700
Median Age
36.2
Poverty Rate
6.3%
Labor force participation
63.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1660.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
399.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1260.4
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
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Early's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,080 residents
2021
3,088 residents
2022
3,156 residents
2023
3,156 residents
2024
3,139 residents
2025
3,117 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
72
66
6
$5.8M
2020
7
7
0
$1.5M
2021
33
9
24
$4.4M
2022
2
2
0
$0.5M
2023
5
5
0
$1.4M
2024
1
1
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 99% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.7%
Carpool
10.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
7.6%
Based on 1,416 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 Early. 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 Early 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 Early sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Early 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.