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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-SURFSIDE-BEACH-TX · Surfside Beach, TX 753 pop · income 75th 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 Surfside Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Surfside Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Spur · lowest
42,500
Spur · lowest
42,500 median HH income
31.2% of the leader · rank #1
Surfside Beach · this city
96,250
Surfside Beach · this city
96,250 median HH income
70.6% of the leader · rank #2
Bithlo · near
96,250
Bithlo · near
96,250 median HH income
70.6% of the leader · rank #3
Conway · near
96,250
Conway · near
96,250 median HH income
70.6% of the leader · rank #4
St. George Is… · near
96,250
St. George Is… · near
96,250 median HH income
70.6% of the leader · rank #5
Moville · near
96,250
Moville · near
96,250 median HH income
70.6% of the leader · rank #6
Annetta South · highest
136,250
Annetta South · highest
136,250 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Surfside Beach 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: 753.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Surfside Beach - the verdict
Surfside Beach ranks in the 75th percentile for household income and the 83rd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
75th
percentile, household income
67th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
83rd
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: Surfside Beach, TX
753 people live in Surfside Beach, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $96,250 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Surfside Beach are valued around $310,700, and the median resident age is 57.5 years. About 39.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 53.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 16 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 45% from five years earlier. Surfside Beach reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 564.2 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Texas at 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,149 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $223 across Texas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Surfside Beach workers runs 23.6 minutes, with 80.2% driving alone and 10.7% working from home. 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 Surfside Beach'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 reported crime to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Surfside Beach, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, 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 Surfside Beach?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Surfside Beach?
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 564.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 75% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in Surfside Beach?
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 80.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 23.6 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Surfside Beach?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Annetta South (752 residents, $136,250 income); Normangee (755 residents, $47,071 income); Reid Hope King (755 residents, $88,523 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Junction City, IL (753 residents); Union, IL (753 residents); Windsor, IL (753 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.
Population change
Is Surfside Beach 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 +62 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +9.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 16 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
+9.8%
2025 estimate
694
2020 estimate
632
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income B+
$96,250
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B
39.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime C+
141 /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.
Surfside Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 75/100 (B+) · $96,250
Bachelor's+ share: 74/100 (B) · 39.2%
Violent crime: 61/100 (C+) · 141 /100k
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Where Surfside Beach sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Surfside Beach'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 - Surfside Beach highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Surfside Beach, TX (this city): home $310,700, crime 564/100k
Union, IL : home $224,600, crime 656/100k
West Concord, MN : home $154,300, crime 120/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Surfside Beach compare to other US cities?
Where Surfside Beach sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income75% higher than other cities
Home value67% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety83% 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, Surfside Beach ranks #117 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 Surfside Beach 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 Surfside Beach near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Surfside Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Surfside Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#271 of 1,520
82nd percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#248 of 1,505
83rd percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,440 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#238 of 1,663
86th 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
75th percentile nationally for median household income · 83rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Surfside Beach's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Surfside Beach'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 Surfside Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$310,70033rd percentilemore affordable than 33% 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
Surfside Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,817 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,438 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Surfside Beach sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,817 of 15,516 and #6,438 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
$96,250Surfside Beach, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Surfside Beach, 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 Surfside Beach, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)39.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
753
Median Income
$96,250
Median Home Value
$310,700
Median Age
57.5
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
53.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
39.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
564.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
141.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
423.1
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Surfside Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
632 residents
2021
646 residents
2022
658 residents
2023
683 residents
2024
692 residents
2025
694 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
16
housing units authorized
Single-Family
16
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
21.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
29
29
0
$6.9M
2020
37
37
0
$8.7M
2021
28
24
4
$6.2M
2022
43
39
4
$10.5M
2023
15
15
0
$4.1M
2024
16
16
0
$4.6M
Permit volume decreased 45% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
23.6 minutes
Drive Alone
80.2%
Carpool
6.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
10.7%
Other
2.4%
Based on 373 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 Surfside Beach. 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 Surfside Beach 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 Surfside Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Surfside Beach 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, 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.