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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-GONZALES-TX · Gonzales, TX 7,180 pop · income 20th pct · 6 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 Gonzales
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Gonzales on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jasper · lowest
42,407
Jasper · lowest
42,407 median HH income
20.1% of the leader · rank #1
Gonzales · this city
50,324
Gonzales · this city
50,324 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #2
Fairfax · near
50,326
Fairfax · near
50,326 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #3
Lucerne Valley · near
50,330
Lucerne Valley · near
50,330 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #4
Camillus · near
50,333
Camillus · near
50,333 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #5
Big Stone City · near
50,333
Big Stone City · near
50,333 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #6
Belterra · highest
211,471
Belterra · highest
211,471 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 Gonzales 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: 7,180.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Gonzales - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Gonzales places in the 20th percentile for household income and the 12th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
20th
percentile, household income
38th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
12th
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: Gonzales, TX
7,180 people live in Gonzales, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Gonzales report a median income of $50,324 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 18.2%. Gonzales's housing stock carries a median value of $184,600, and the median resident age is 36.3 years. 10.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 56.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 11 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 15% from five years earlier. Gonzales's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3384.4 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 68.8°F with 35.9 inches of precipitation per year.
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Texas at 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,149 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Texas's average monthly utility costs around $223 (state average). Workers in Gonzales report an average commute of 15.7 minutes, with 82.8% driving alone and 0.6% working from home. 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 Gonzales'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 comparison shortlist to population change to climate and hazard context to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households to housing and income to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Gonzales, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Gonzales?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Belterra (7,190 residents, $211,471 income); Jasper (7,215 residents, $42,407 income); Northlake (7,138 residents, $119,803 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wetumpka, AL (7,182 residents); Hiawatha, IA (7,178 residents); South Haven, IN (7,177 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 Gonzales 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 +83 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 11 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 68.8°F, with 35.9 inches of precipitation. 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.
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.
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 Gonzales?
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 3384.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 48% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1989.2
Violent rate
1395.2
Total reported rate
3384.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Gonzales?
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 82.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.7 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
0.6%
Drive alone
82.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,022 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 10.8% 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
6
Bachelor's degree+
10.8%
Poverty estimate
18.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Gonzales?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.2%, 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
$50,324
Home value
$184,600
Value / income
3.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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.
Household income F
$50,324
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
18.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
1,395 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Gonzales profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,324
Poverty rate: 17/100 (F) · 18.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 9/100 (F) · 10.8%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,395 /100k
Where Gonzales sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Gonzales'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 - Gonzales highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Gonzales, TX (this city): home $184,600, crime 3,384/100k
Wetumpka, AL : home $184,100, crime 1,476/100k
Hiawatha, IA : home $210,200, crime 1,342/100k
Jasper, TX : home $130,200, crime 2,503/100k
Northlake, TX : home $482,700, crime 1,585/100k
Lacy-Lakeview, TX : home $154,300, crime 1,948/100k
Marble Falls, TX : home $294,900, crime 2,208/100k
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 Gonzales compare to other US cities?
Gonzales measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value38% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety12% 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: Gonzales ranks #579 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 Gonzales 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 Gonzales near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Gonzales ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Gonzales only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,134 of 1,520
25th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#621 of 1,505
59th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#381 of 1,663
77th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,220 of 1,663
26th 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income · 12th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Gonzales's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Gonzales'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 Gonzales's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$184,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% 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
Gonzales's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,603 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,658 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Gonzales sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,603 of 15,516 and #7,658 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$50,324Gonzales, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gonzales, 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 Gonzales, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
7,180
Median Income
$50,324
Median Home Value
$184,600
Median Age
36.3
Poverty Rate
18.2%
Labor force participation
56.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3384.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1395.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1989.2
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
68.8°F
Annual Precipitation
35.9"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Gonzales's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,156 residents
2021
7,111 residents
2022
7,182 residents
2023
7,227 residents
2024
7,248 residents
2025
7,239 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
11
housing units authorized
Single-Family
11
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
13
13
0
$2.5M
2020
14
14
0
$2.7M
2021
17
17
0
$3.3M
2022
8
8
0
$2.0M
2023
10
10
0
$2.3M
2024
11
11
0
$2.6M
Permit volume decreased 15% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.7 minutes
Drive Alone
82.8%
Carpool
12.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
0.6%
Other
3.5%
Based on 3,022 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 Gonzales. 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 Gonzales 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 Gonzales sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Gonzales 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.