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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-ORCHARD-TX · Orchard, TX 257 pop · income 9th 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 Orchard
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Orchard on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Olmsted · lowest
34,375
Olmsted · lowest
34,375 median HH income
32.4% of the leader · rank #1
Orchard · this city
41,705
Orchard · this city
41,705 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #2
Wiggins · near
41,705
Wiggins · near
41,705 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #3
Butler · near
41,705
Butler · near
41,705 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #4
Ayden · near
41,711
Ayden · near
41,711 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #5
Elliston · near
41,719
Elliston · near
41,719 median HH income
39.3% of the leader · rank #6
Sanctuary · highest
106,250
Sanctuary · highest
106,250 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Orchard on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 257.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Orchard places in the 9th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
9th
percentile, household income
46th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Orchard, TX
Texas's Orchard is a small town, with 257 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Orchard households earn a median of $41,705 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 10.5%. Home values in Orchard run a median of $211,400, and the median resident age is 48.9 years. About 6.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 44.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 2 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 33% from five years earlier.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,149 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Texas run around $223, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 25.5 minutes, with 87.8% driving alone and 8.9% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 49.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Orchard'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Orchard, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Orchard?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.5%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What does the journey to work look like in Orchard?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 25.5 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Orchard?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Plum (256 residents, $71,250 income); Roaring Springs (256 residents, $36,827 income); Sanctuary (258 residents, $106,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Buckner, AR (257 residents); Bethune, CO (257 residents); Bloomington, ID (257 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 NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 6.8% 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 matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
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 Orchard 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 +21 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 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
+6.5%
2025 estimate
344
2020 estimate
323
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 10.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Orchard, TX
26/100
4 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.
Poverty rate F
10.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$41,705
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Orchard profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 38/100 (F) · 10.5%
Household income: 9/100 (F) · $41,705
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.8%
How does Orchard compare to other US cities?
Here's how Orchard stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value46% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Orchard 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 Orchard near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Orchard ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Orchard only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,333 of 1,520
12th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#520 of 1,505
65th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#723 of 1,663
56th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,432 of 1,663
14th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Orchard's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$211,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 54% 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
Orchard's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,019 of 15,516
More affordable than 16% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,831 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.1×, Orchard sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,019 of 15,516 and #9,831 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$41,705Orchard, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Orchard, 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 Orchard, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
257
Median Income
$41,705
Median Home Value
$211,400
Median Age
48.9
Poverty Rate
10.5%
Labor force participation
44.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.8%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Orchard's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
323 residents
2021
323 residents
2022
328 residents
2023
335 residents
2024
344 residents
2025
344 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
7.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$0.3M
2020
2
2
0
$0.4M
2021
1
1
0
$0.2M
2022
4
4
0
$0.8M
2023
4
4
0
$0.8M
2024
2
2
0
$0.4M
Permit volume decreased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
25.5 minutes
Drive Alone
87.8%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
8.9%
Based on 90 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 Orchard. 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 Orchard 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 Orchard sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Orchard 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, 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.