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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-HILLSBORO-TX · Hillsboro, TX 8,375 pop · income 28th pct · 12 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 Hillsboro
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hillsboro on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Mila Doce · lowest
46,544
Mila Doce · lowest
46,544 median HH income
33.9% of the leader · rank #1
Falun · near
55,750
Falun · near
55,750 median HH income
40.6% of the leader · rank #2
Lorraine · near
55,750
Lorraine · near
55,750 median HH income
40.6% of the leader · rank #3
Hillsboro · this city
55,761
Hillsboro · this city
55,761 median HH income
40.6% of the leader · rank #4
Assumption · near
55,764
Assumption · near
55,764 median HH income
40.6% of the leader · rank #5
Galena · near
55,765
Galena · near
55,765 median HH income
40.6% of the leader · rank #6
Dayton · highest
137,383
Dayton · highest
137,383 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 Hillsboro 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: 8,375.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hillsboro - the verdict
Hillsboro ranks in the 28th percentile for household income and the 32nd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
28th
percentile, household income
17th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
32nd
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: Hillsboro, TX
Hillsboro is a small town in Texas, home to 8,375 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Hillsboro households earn a median of $55,761 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 13.8%. Typical homes in Hillsboro are valued around $118,400, and the median resident age is 36.0 years. About 17.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 40 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 90% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1994.6 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Hillsboro's yearly average temperature at 66.1°F with 38.7 inches of precipitation per year and 0.7 inches of snowfall.
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). 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. Workers in Hillsboro report an average commute of 20.8 minutes, with 79.5% driving alone and 3.9% 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 Hillsboro'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 reported crime to population change to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households to climate and hazard context to within-city variation to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hillsboro, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hillsboro?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1994.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 13% 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.
Is Hillsboro growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +840 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 40 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.
What can 12 Census tracts reveal inside Hillsboro?
PlainCities matches 12 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Hillsboro?
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 Fort Stockton (8,340 residents, $69,688 income); Mont Belvieu (8,416 residents, $127,902 income); Mila Doce (8,298 residents, $46,544 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Oak Hills Place, LA (8,380 residents); Menominee, MI (8,370 residents); Westgate, FL (8,369 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Hillsboro?
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 home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 13.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$118,400
Household income
$55,761
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Hillsboro?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 20.8 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. 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.
Drive alone
79.5%
Work from home
3.9%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,320 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Hillsboro?
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 6 public schools within the city match. 17.9% 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.
Poverty estimate
13.8%
Bachelor's degree+
17.9%
Matched public schools
6
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 66.1°F, with 38.7 inches of precipitation and 0.7 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.0
Annual precipitation
38.7 in
Mean temperature
66.1°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 13.8% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Hillsboro, TX
39/100
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.
Violent crime C+
135 /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.
Household income F
$55,761
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
13.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Hillsboro profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 62/100 (C+) · 135 /100k
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 28/100 (F) · $55,761
Bachelor's+ share: 28/100 (F) · 17.9%
Poverty rate: 25/100 (F) · 13.8%
Where Hillsboro sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hillsboro'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 - Hillsboro highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Hillsboro, TX (this city): home $118,400, crime 1,995/100k
Menominee, MI : home $97,800, crime 1,391/100k
Dayton, MN : home $510,600, crime 435/100k
Crete, IL : home $209,100, crime 1,075/100k
Westwego, LA : home $168,600, crime 2,518/100k
Fort Stockton, TX : home $176,600, crime 413/100k
Mont Belvieu, TX : home $365,200, crime 1,490/100k
Joshua, TX : home $271,000, crime 768/100k
Richland Hills, TX : home $232,800, crime 2,696/100k
Liberty, TX : home $127,200, crime 2,395/100k
How does Hillsboro compare to other US cities?
Here's how Hillsboro stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income28% higher than other cities
Home value17% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety32% 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, Hillsboro ranks #454 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 Hillsboro 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 Hillsboro near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hillsboro ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hillsboro only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#980 of 1,520
36th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#985 of 1,505
35th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#555 of 1,663
66th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#774 of 1,663
53rd 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
28th percentile nationally for median household income · 32nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hillsboro's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hillsboro'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 Hillsboro's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$118,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 83% 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
Hillsboro's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,102 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,987 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Hillsboro sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,102 of 15,516 and #1,987 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
$55,761Hillsboro, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hillsboro, 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 Hillsboro, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)13.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,375
Median Income
$55,761
Median Home Value
$118,400
Median Age
36.0
Poverty Rate
13.8%
Labor force participation
52.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1994.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
135.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1859.4
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
66.1°F
Annual Precipitation
38.7"
Annual Snowfall
0.7"
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
Hillsboro's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,196 residents
2021
8,256 residents
2022
8,476 residents
2023
8,729 residents
2024
8,866 residents
2025
9,036 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
40
housing units authorized
Single-Family
40
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
21
21
0
$4.3M
2020
20
20
0
$4.2M
2021
46
46
0
$10.0M
2022
42
42
0
$9.1M
2023
40
40
0
$8.7M
2024
40
40
0
$8.7M
Permit volume increased 90% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
20.8 minutes
Drive Alone
79.5%
Carpool
14.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
3.9%
Other
1.0%
Based on 3,320 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 Hillsboro. 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 Hillsboro 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 Hillsboro sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hillsboro 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.