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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-ROAD-RUNNER-TX · Road Runner, TX 781 pop · income 10th 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 Road Runner
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Road Runner on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Road Runner · this city · lowest
42,500
Road Runner · this city · lowest
42,500 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #1
Ider · near
42,500
Ider · near
42,500 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #2
Mentone · near
42,500
Mentone · near
42,500 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #3
Teller · near
42,500
Teller · near
42,500 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #4
Tuckerman · near
42,500
Tuckerman · near
42,500 median HH income
27.6% of the leader · rank #5
Lakewood · highest
154,219
Lakewood · highest
154,219 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Road Runner 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: 781.
Nationally, Road Runner sits in the 10th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
10th
percentile, household income
27th
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: Road Runner, TX
Texas's Road Runner is a small town, with 781 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Road Runner brings in $42,500 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 32.2%. Typical homes in Road Runner are valued around $151,400, and the median resident age is 33.9 years. Educational attainment runs 4.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 47.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.0 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Road Runner'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Road Runner, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Road Runner?
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 96.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Road Runner?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Sand Springs (781 residents, $46,230 income); Blooming Grove (779 residents, $67,143 income); Lakewood (784 residents, $154,219 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gisela, AZ (781 residents); Elkville, IL (781 residents); Evansville, IL (781 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Road Runner?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 32.2%, 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.
Is Road Runner 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 +94 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.2% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Low income · poverty 32.2% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Road Runner, TX
16/100
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.
Household income F
$42,500
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
32.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
4.2%
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).
Road Runner profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Household income: 10/100 (F) · $42,500
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 32.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 4.2%
How does Road Runner compare to other US cities?
Road Runner measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income10% higher than other cities
Home value27% 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 Road Runner 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 Road Runner near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Road Runner ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Road Runner only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,307 of 1,520
14th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#805 of 1,505
46th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#108 of 1,663
94th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,521 of 1,663
8th 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
10th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Road Runner's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$151,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 73% 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
Road Runner's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,226 of 15,516
More affordable than 41% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,414 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Road Runner sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,226 of 15,516 and #7,414 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
$42,500Road Runner, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Road Runner, 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 Road Runner, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)4.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)32.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
781
Median Income
$42,500
Median Home Value
$151,400
Median Age
33.9
Poverty Rate
32.2%
Labor force participation
47.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
4.2%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Road Runner's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
769 residents
2021
789 residents
2022
815 residents
2023
833 residents
2024
856 residents
2025
863 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
96.8%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.4%
Work from Home
2.8%
Based on 248 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 Road Runner. 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 Road Runner 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 Road Runner sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Road Runner 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, 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.