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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-KILLEEN-TX · Killeen, TX 156,144 pop · income 33rd pct · 87 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 Killeen
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Killeen on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Macon-Bibb Co… · lowest
50,747
Macon-Bibb Co… · lowest
50,747 median HH income
44.7% of the leader · rank #1
Twin · near
58,333
Twin · near
58,333 median HH income
51.3% of the leader · rank #2
Dover · near
58,336
Dover · near
58,336 median HH income
51.3% of the leader · rank #3
Killeen · this city
58,339
Killeen · this city
58,339 median HH income
51.3% of the leader · rank #4
Storm Lake · near
58,341
Storm Lake · near
58,341 median HH income
51.3% of the leader · rank #5
Dickson City · near
58,343
Dickson City · near
58,343 median HH income
51.3% of the leader · rank #6
Alexandria · highest
113,638
Alexandria · highest
113,638 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 Killeen 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: 156,144.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Killeen - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Killeen lands in the 33rd percentile for household income and the 35th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
33rd
percentile, household income
42nd
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
35th
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: Killeen, TX
156,144 people live in Killeen, Texas - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Killeen brings in $58,339 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.0%. Home values in Killeen run a median of $196,000, and the median resident age is 30.0 years. 22.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 52.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1,134 residential building permits were authorized in Killeen (Rapid Growth), up 32% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1910.1 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Killeen's yearly average temperature at 66.6°F with 34.8 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). 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). The average commute for Killeen workers runs 22.4 minutes, with 78.8% driving alone and 7.6% 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 Killeen'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 housing and income to work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to schools and households to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Killeen, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Killeen?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1910.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 16% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Killeen?
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 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Killeen?
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 Pasadena (149,345 residents, $64,270 income); Mesquite (148,848 residents, $71,843 income); Denton (146,987 residents, $73,719 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lakewood, CO (156,309 residents); Macon-Bibb County, GA (156,543 residents); Alexandria, VA (156,788 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.
PlainCities matches 87 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Killeen?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 22.4 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
78.8%
Work from home
7.6%
Public transit
0.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 70,102 workers age 16+.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +8,098 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1,134 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
153,785
2025 estimate
161,883
Period change
+5.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 40 public schools within the city match. 22.0% 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
14.0%
Bachelor's degree+
22.0%
Matched public schools
40
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 66.6°F, with 34.8 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.0
Annual precipitation
34.8 in
Mean temperature
66.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 14.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Killeen, TX
32/100
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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$58,339
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
528 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Killeen profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 22.0%
Household income: 32/100 (F) · $58,339
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.0%
Violent crime: 14/100 (F) · 528 /100k
Where Killeen sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Killeen'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 - Killeen highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Killeen, TX (this city): home $196,000, crime 1,910/100k
Lakewood, CO : home $548,200, crime 5,881/100k
Alexandria, VA : home $696,800, crime 2,859/100k
Kansas City, KS : home $147,100, crime 4,654/100k
Springfield, MA : home $222,700, crime 3,727/100k
Murfreesboro, TN : home $365,100, crime 2,442/100k
Pasadena, TX : home $193,600, crime 2,918/100k
Mesquite, TX : home $226,500, crime 3,478/100k
Denton, TX : home $325,700, crime 1,949/100k
McAllen, TX : home $173,800, crime 1,986/100k
Waco, TX : home $199,600, crime 2,552/100k
Midland, TX : home $298,600, crime 1,977/100k
How does Killeen compare to other US cities?
Killeen measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income33% higher than other cities
Home value42% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety35% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Texas, Killeen ranks #435 of 624 Texas cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Killeen 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 Killeen near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Killeen ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Killeen only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#896 of 1,520
41st percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#567 of 1,505
62nd percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#547 of 1,663
67th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#598 of 1,663
64th 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
33rd percentile nationally for median household income · 35th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Killeen's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Killeen'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 Killeen's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$196,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 58% 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
Killeen's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,386 of 15,516
More affordable than 46% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#180 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 3.4×, Killeen sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,386 of 15,516 and #180 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$58,339Killeen, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Killeen, 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 Killeen, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
156,144
Median Income
$58,339
Median Home Value
$196,000
Median Age
30.0
Poverty Rate
14.0%
Labor force participation
52.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1910.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
527.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1382.5
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
66.6°F
Annual Precipitation
34.8"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
40
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Killeen's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
153,785 residents
2021
157,135 residents
2022
159,358 residents
2023
159,786 residents
2024
160,388 residents
2025
161,883 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
1,134
housing units authorized
Single-Family
680
detached homes
Multifamily
454
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
7.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
858
700
158
$153.9M
2020
1,314
888
426
$224.1M
2021
1,204
592
612
$190.0M
2022
655
497
158
$139.3M
2023
607
527
80
$158.0M
2024
1,134
680
454
$259.0M
Permit volume increased 32% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
22.4 minutes
Drive Alone
78.8%
Carpool
10.7%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
7.6%
Other
1.0%
Based on 70,102 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 Killeen. 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 Killeen 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 Killeen sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Killeen 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.