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-FRIENDSWOOD-TX · Friendswood, TX 40,827 pop · income 89th 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 Friendswood
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Friendswood on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lancaster · lowest
54,901
Lancaster · lowest
54,901 median HH income
37.9% of the leader · rank #1
Bridgewater · near
125,000
Bridgewater · near
125,000 median HH income
86.3% of the leader · rank #2
Benicia · near
125,040
Benicia · near
125,040 median HH income
86.4% of the leader · rank #3
Allenspark · near
125,048
Allenspark · near
125,048 median HH income
86.4% of the leader · rank #4
Friendswood · this city
125,052
Friendswood · this city
125,052 median HH income
86.4% of the leader · rank #5
Gorham · near
125,058
Gorham · near
125,058 median HH income
86.4% of the leader · rank #6
Germantown · highest
144,799
Germantown · highest
144,799 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 Friendswood 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: 40,827.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Friendswood - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Friendswood places in the 89th percentile for household income and the 79th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
89th
percentile, household income
77th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
79th
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: Friendswood, TX
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 40,827 residents in Friendswood, a small city within Texas. Friendswood households earn a median of $125,052 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.3%. Typical homes in Friendswood are valued around $399,500, and the median resident age is 39.7 years. About 49.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 61.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 130 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 71% from five years earlier. Friendswood reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 645.2 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: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Texas scores 97.1 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,149 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Texas run around $223, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Friendswood report an average commute of 24.2 minutes, with 75.0% driving alone and 16.0% working from home. 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 Friendswood'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 population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Friendswood, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
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 Friendswood?
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 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Friendswood growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +301 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 130 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Friendswood?
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 Lancaster (40,753 residents, $67,584 income); Weslaco (41,437 residents, $54,995 income); Hurst (39,912 residents, $71,743 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mount Juliet, TN (40,828 residents); Germantown, TN (40,812 residents); Covington, KY (40,902 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 Friendswood?
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 11 public schools within the city match. 49.6% 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Friendswood?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 645.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 72% 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.
Total reported rate
645.2
Violent rate
100.6
Property rate
544.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Friendswood?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.2 minutes.
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
75.0%
Work from home
16.0%
Public transit
0.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 18,893 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.
Household income A
$125,052
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A-
49.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime B
101 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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.
Friendswood profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 88/100 (A) · $125,052
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 49.6%
Violent crime: 71/100 (B) · 101 /100k
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Where Friendswood sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Friendswood'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 - Friendswood highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Friendswood, TX (this city): home $399,500, crime 645/100k
Mount Juliet, TN : home $423,000, crime 1,124/100k
Germantown, TN : home $441,200, crime 1,345/100k
Covington, KY : home $167,900, crime 1,923/100k
Lancaster, OH : home $180,200, crime 2,531/100k
Annapolis, MD : home $510,200, crime 2,903/100k
Lancaster, TX : home $229,900, crime 3,537/100k
Weslaco, TX : home $119,200, crime 3,916/100k
Hurst, TX : home $287,600, crime 2,592/100k
Duncanville, TX : home $239,200, crime 2,586/100k
Coppell, TX : home $525,300, crime 929/100k
Rosenberg, TX : home $218,600, crime 1,720/100k
How does Friendswood compare to other US cities?
Friendswood measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income89% higher than other cities
Home value77% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety79% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Texas alone, Friendswood ranks #140 of 624 Texas cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Friendswood 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 Friendswood near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Friendswood ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Friendswood only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#124 of 1,520
92nd percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#137 of 1,505
91st percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,327 of 1,663
20th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#136 of 1,663
92nd 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
89th percentile nationally for median household income · 79th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Friendswood's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Friendswood'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 Friendswood's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$399,50023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Friendswood's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,665 of 15,516
More affordable than 51% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,161 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.2×, Friendswood sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,665 of 15,516 and #1,161 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$125,052Friendswood, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Friendswood, 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 Friendswood, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)49.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
40,827
Median Income
$125,052
Median Home Value
$399,500
Median Age
39.7
Poverty Rate
2.3%
Labor force participation
61.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
49.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
645.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
100.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
544.6
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
11
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Friendswood's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
41,018 residents
2021
40,948 residents
2022
40,821 residents
2023
40,997 residents
2024
41,231 residents
2025
41,319 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
130
housing units authorized
Single-Family
130
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
76
76
0
$40.8M
2020
156
156
0
$46.8M
2021
81
81
0
$37.7M
2022
102
102
0
$46.5M
2023
111
111
0
$68.8M
2024
130
130
0
$100.7M
Permit volume increased 71% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.2 minutes
Drive Alone
75.0%
Carpool
7.4%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
0.7%
Work from Home
16.0%
Based on 18,893 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 Friendswood. 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 Friendswood 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 Friendswood sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Friendswood 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.