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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-SAN-MARCOS-TX · San Marcos, TX 68,920 pop · income 21st pct · 46 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 San Marcos
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest San Marcos on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gary · lowest
37,380
Gary · lowest
37,380 median HH income
26.7% of the leader · rank #1
Fort Denaud · near
51,023
Fort Denaud · near
51,023 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #2
San Marcos · this city
51,030
San Marcos · this city
51,030 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #3
Midland · near
51,033
Midland · near
51,033 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #4
Kinsey · near
51,042
Kinsey · near
51,042 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #5
Langston · near
51,042
Langston · near
51,042 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #6
Leander · highest
140,180
Leander · highest
140,180 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 San Marcos 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: 68,920.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
San Marcos - the verdict
Nationally, San Marcos sits in the 21st percentile for household income and the 21st percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
21st
percentile, household income
60th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
21st
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: San Marcos, TX
San Marcos is a small city in Texas, home to 68,920 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. San Marcos households earn a median of $51,030 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.5%. Home values in San Marcos run a median of $269,700, and the median resident age is 25.5 years. 37.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1,282 residential building permits were authorized in San Marcos (Building Boom), up 122% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2616.8 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 climate normals record an annual average temperature of 68.6°F with 36.5 inches of precipitation per year.
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. 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 San Marcos'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 population change to climate and hazard context to housing and income to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For San Marcos, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in San Marcos?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Is San Marcos growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +9,631 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +14.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1,282 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for San Marcos?
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 Leander (67,880 residents, $140,180 income); North Richland Hills (70,338 residents, $93,434 income); Spring (67,103 residents, $86,888 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are East Orange, NJ (69,183 residents); Gaithersburg, MD (69,225 residents); Gary, IN (68,604 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.
What can 46 Census tracts reveal inside San Marcos?
PlainCities matches 46 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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in San Marcos?
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 68.6°F, with 36.5 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
36.5 in
Mean temperature
68.6°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in San Marcos?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.3×
Home value
$269,700
Household income
$51,030
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in San Marcos?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2616.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 15% higher 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.
Total reported rate
2616.8
Violent rate
358.9
Property rate
2257.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for San Marcos?
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 15 public schools within the city match. 37.3% 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
11.5%
Bachelor's degree+
37.3%
Matched public schools
15
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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.
Bachelor's+ share B
37.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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
11.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
359 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$51,030
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
San Marcos profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 71/100 (B) · 37.3%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 34/100 (F) · 11.5%
Violent crime: 25/100 (F) · 359 /100k
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,030
Where San Marcos sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
San Marcos'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 - San Marcos highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
San Marcos, TX (this city): home $269,700, crime 2,617/100k
East Orange, NJ : home $315,500, crime 2,439/100k
Gaithersburg, MD : home $484,500, crime 1,565/100k
Eau Claire, WI : home $228,000, crime 2,068/100k
Schenectady, NY : home $152,000, crime 3,775/100k
Portland, ME : home $452,600, crime 2,746/100k
Leander, TX : home $470,700, crime 1,058/100k
North Richland Hills, TX : home $324,800, crime 2,456/100k
Harlingen, TX : home $125,700, crime 2,977/100k
Victoria, TX : home $193,200, crime 2,283/100k
Pflugerville, TX : home $354,900, crime 1,809/100k
How does San Marcos compare to other US cities?
San Marcos measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income21% higher than other cities
Home value60% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety21% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Texas and the picture shifts: San Marcos ranks #536 of 624 Texas cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares San Marcos 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 San Marcos near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, San Marcos ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares San Marcos only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,110 of 1,520
27th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#336 of 1,505
78th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#673 of 1,663
59th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#262 of 1,663
84th 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
21st percentile nationally for median household income · 21st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
San Marcos's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
San Marcos'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 San Marcos's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$269,70040th percentilemore affordable than 40% 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
San Marcos's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,301 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#487 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 5.3×, San Marcos sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,301 of 15,516 and #487 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$51,030San Marcos, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context San Marcos, 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 San Marcos, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)37.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
68,920
Median Income
$51,030
Median Home Value
$269,700
Median Age
25.5
Poverty Rate
11.5%
Labor force participation
62.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
37.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2616.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
358.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2257.9
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
68.6°F
Annual Precipitation
36.5"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
15
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
San Marcos's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
68,199 residents
2021
69,442 residents
2022
70,572 residents
2023
72,005 residents
2024
76,114 residents
2025
77,830 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
1,282
housing units authorized
Single-Family
557
detached homes
Multifamily
725
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
18.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
577
577
0
$105.4M
2020
625
625
0
$117.5M
2021
721
721
0
$134.6M
2022
934
934
0
$222.8M
2023
1,442
782
660
$221.5M
2024
1,282
557
725
$220.0M
Permit volume increased 122% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.0%
Carpool
10.2%
Public Transit
1.2%
Walk
4.6%
Work from Home
10.1%
Other
2.9%
Based on 38,033 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 San Marcos. 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 San Marcos 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 San Marcos sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How San Marcos 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.