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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-LAREDO-TX · Laredo, TX 255,949 pop · income 40th pct · 69 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 Laredo
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Laredo on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Toledo · lowest
47,532
Toledo · lowest
47,532 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #1
Harrogate · near
63,257
Harrogate · near
63,257 median HH income
43.3% of the leader · rank #2
Camp Nelson · near
63,259
Camp Nelson · near
63,259 median HH income
43.3% of the leader · rank #3
Laredo · this city
63,264
Laredo · this city
63,264 median HH income
43.3% of the leader · rank #4
Boardman · near
63,266
Boardman · near
63,266 median HH income
43.3% of the leader · rank #5
Canandaigua · near
63,268
Canandaigua · near
63,268 median HH income
43.3% of the leader · rank #6
Frisco · highest
146,158
Frisco · highest
146,158 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 Laredo 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: 255,949.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Laredo - the verdict
Laredo ranks in the 40th percentile for household income and the 36th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
37th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
36th
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: Laredo, TX
Texas's Laredo is a mid-sized U.S. city, with 255,949 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Laredo report a median income of $63,264 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 18.4%. Typical homes in Laredo are valued around $182,400, and the median resident age is 29.7 years. Educational attainment runs 21.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1,448 residential building permits were authorized in Laredo (Slowing), down 10% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1830.7 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 74.6°F with 21.4 inches of precipitation per year.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,149 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $223 across Texas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Laredo'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 comparison shortlist to population change to reported crime 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 Laredo, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Laredo?
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 79.3%. 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 Laredo?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.4%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Laredo?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Irving (255,036 residents, $79,641 income); Lubbock (261,078 residents, $60,487 income); Garland (245,298 residents, $74,717 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are St. Petersburg, FL (260,646 residents); Chesapeake, VA (251,153 residents); Winston-Salem, NC (250,887 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.
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.
PlainCities matches 69 Census tracts to this city.
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 Laredo 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 +14,044 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1,448 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
+5.5%
2025 estimate
269,515
2020 estimate
255,471
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Laredo?
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 1830.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 20% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1464.9
Violent rate
365.8
Total reported rate
1830.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The NCES join finds 84 public schools within the city match. 21.5% 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.
Matched public schools
84
Bachelor's degree+
21.5%
Poverty estimate
18.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 74.6°F, with 21.4 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.
Mean temperature
74.6°F
Annual precipitation
21.4 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.0
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 18.4% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Laredo, TX
34/100
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.
Household income F
$63,264
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
366 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
18.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Laredo profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $63,264
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.5%
Violent crime: 24/100 (F) · 366 /100k
Poverty rate: 16/100 (F) · 18.4%
Where Laredo sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Laredo'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 - Laredo highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Laredo, TX (this city): home $182,400, crime 1,831/100k
St. Petersburg, FL : home $331,500, crime 3,079/100k
Chesapeake, VA : home $359,100, crime 2,084/100k
Winston-Salem, NC : home $208,200, crime 3,731/100k
Glendale, AZ : home $347,000, crime 3,159/100k
Fort Wayne, IN : home $169,700, crime 2,531/100k
Toledo, OH : home $107,000, crime 3,773/100k
Irving, TX : home $287,300, crime 2,474/100k
Lubbock, TX : home $197,900, crime 3,450/100k
Garland, TX : home $248,900, crime 2,221/100k
Plano, TX : home $440,600, crime 1,618/100k
Frisco, TX : home $595,400, crime 1,104/100k
McKinney, TX : home $439,500, crime 933/100k
How does Laredo compare to other US cities?
Where Laredo sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value37% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety36% 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, Laredo ranks #422 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 Laredo 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 Laredo near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Laredo ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Laredo only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#765 of 1,520
50th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#632 of 1,505
58th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#376 of 1,663
77th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#621 of 1,663
62nd 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
40th percentile nationally for median household income · 36th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Laredo's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Laredo'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 Laredo's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$182,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 63% 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
Laredo's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#6,021 of 15,516
More affordable than 61% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)
At 2.9×, Laredo sits in the affordable band:
national rank #6,021 of 15,516 and #8 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999).
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
$63,264Laredo, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Laredo, 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 Laredo, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
255,949
Median Income
$63,264
Median Home Value
$182,400
Median Age
29.7
Poverty Rate
18.4%
Labor force participation
59.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1830.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
365.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1464.9
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
74.6°F
Annual Precipitation
21.4"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
84
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Laredo's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
255,471 residents
2021
255,675 residents
2022
256,856 residents
2023
260,319 residents
2024
268,740 residents
2025
269,515 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
1,448
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1,154
detached homes
Multifamily
294
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1,602
1,302
300
$294.3M
2020
1,447
1,274
173
$201.5M
2021
1,684
1,462
222
$252.0M
2022
1,272
1,170
102
$314.8M
2023
1,542
1,099
443
$360.0M
2024
1,448
1,154
294
$352.4M
Permit volume decreased 10% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
79.3%
Carpool
11.4%
Public Transit
0.8%
Walk
1.5%
Work from Home
5.4%
Other
1.6%
Based on 107,586 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 Laredo. 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 Laredo 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 Laredo sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Laredo 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.