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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-RUSK-TX · Rusk, TX 5,332 pop · income 35th 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 Rusk
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rusk on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Guánica zona… · lowest
14,772
Guánica zona… · lowest
14,772 median HH income
15.8% of the leader · rank #1
Elgin · near
60,114
Elgin · near
60,114 median HH income
64.4% of the leader · rank #2
Hebron · near
60,114
Hebron · near
60,114 median HH income
64.4% of the leader · rank #3
Minco · near
60,114
Minco · near
60,114 median HH income
64.4% of the leader · rank #4
Rusk · this city
60,119
Rusk · this city
60,119 median HH income
64.4% of the leader · rank #5
New London · near
60,123
New London · near
60,123 median HH income
64.4% of the leader · rank #6
Van Alstyne · highest
93,373
Van Alstyne · highest
93,373 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 Rusk 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: 5,332.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Rusk - the verdict
Nationally, Rusk sits in the 35th percentile for household income and the 61st percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
35th
percentile, household income
28th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
61st
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: Rusk, TX
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 5,332 residents in Rusk, a small town within Texas. Median household income here is $60,119 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.7%. Home values in Rusk run a median of $153,500, and the median resident age is 39.3 years. About 8.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 21.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 8 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 27% from five years earlier. Rusk reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1076.7 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Rusk's yearly average temperature at 64.9°F with 50.1 inches of precipitation per year and 0.1 inches of snowfall.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Texas's average monthly utility costs around $223 (state average). 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 Rusk'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 climate and hazard context to reported crime to housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rusk, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Rusk?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 64.9°F, with 50.1 inches of precipitation and 0.1 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.
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.
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 1076.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 53% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Rusk?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.7%, 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 Rusk?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Brookshire (5,330 residents, $62,987 income); Muleshoe (5,328 residents, $71,534 income); Van Alstyne (5,378 residents, $93,373 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Roanoke, AL (5,332 residents); Benson, AZ (5,331 residents); Posen, IL (5,331 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Rusk?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 8.6% 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
5
Bachelor's degree+
8.6%
Poverty estimate
8.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 +161 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 8 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
+3.0%
2025 estimate
5,568
2020 estimate
5,407
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 59.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
25.1%
Drive alone
59.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,001 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 8.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
D
City profile score · Rusk, TX
42/100
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 B-
111 /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.
Poverty rate D
8.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$60,119
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
8.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Rusk profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 68/100 (B-) · 111 /100k
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 45/100 (D) · 8.7%
Household income: 35/100 (F) · $60,119
Bachelor's+ share: 3/100 (F) · 8.6%
Where Rusk sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Rusk'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 - Rusk highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Rusk, TX (this city): home $153,500, crime 1,077/100k
Roanoke, AL : home $129,100, crime 4,657/100k
Posen, IL : home $172,800, crime 2,472/100k
Polson, MT : home $321,000, crime 4,108/100k
Brookshire, TX : home $117,000, crime 1,943/100k
Muleshoe, TX : home $100,100, crime 488/100k
Van Alstyne, TX : home $297,400, crime 744/100k
Cameron, TX : home $112,800, crime 1,147/100k
How does Rusk compare to other US cities?
Where Rusk sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income35% higher than other cities
Home value28% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety61% 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, Rusk ranks #251 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 Rusk 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 Rusk near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rusk ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rusk only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#850 of 1,520
44th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#789 of 1,505
48th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#830 of 1,663
50th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,333 of 1,663
20th 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
35th percentile nationally for median household income · 61st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Rusk's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Rusk'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 Rusk's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$153,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 72% 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
Rusk's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,274 of 15,516
More affordable than 72% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,829 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Rusk sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,274 of 15,516 and #3,829 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
$60,119Rusk, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rusk, 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 Rusk, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)8.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)21.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,332
Median Income
$60,119
Median Home Value
$153,500
Median Age
39.3
Poverty Rate
8.7%
Labor force participation
21.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
8.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1076.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
111.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
965.3
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
64.9°F
Annual Precipitation
50.1"
Annual Snowfall
0.1"
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Rusk's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,407 residents
2021
5,499 residents
2022
5,415 residents
2023
5,520 residents
2024
5,549 residents
2025
5,568 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
8
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
11
11
0
$2.0M
2020
8
8
0
$1.2M
2021
11
11
0
$1.6M
2022
14
14
0
$2.5M
2023
11
11
0
$2.7M
2024
8
8
0
$2.6M
Permit volume decreased 27% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
59.9%
Carpool
12.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.2%
Work from Home
25.1%
Based on 1,001 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 Rusk. 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 Rusk 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 Rusk sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rusk 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.