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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-UNIVERSAL-CITY-TX · Universal City, TX 19,853 pop · income 57th 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 Universal City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Universal City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Harvey · lowest
41,091
Harvey · lowest
41,091 median HH income
32.8% of the leader · rank #1
Carneys Point · near
75,436
Carneys Point · near
75,436 median HH income
60.1% of the leader · rank #2
Murrells Inlet · near
75,438
Murrells Inlet · near
75,438 median HH income
60.1% of the leader · rank #3
Tenino · near
75,438
Tenino · near
75,438 median HH income
60.1% of the leader · rank #4
Universal City · this city
75,439
Universal City · this city
75,439 median HH income
60.1% of the leader · rank #5
Eton · near
75,441
Eton · near
75,441 median HH income
60.1% of the leader · rank #6
Mamaroneck · highest
125,459
Mamaroneck · highest
125,459 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 Universal City 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: 19,853.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Universal City - the verdict
Nationally, Universal City sits in the 57th percentile for household income and the 25th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
57th
percentile, household income
56th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
25th
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: Universal City, TX
Texas's Universal City is a small town, with 19,853 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Universal City brings in $75,439 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.9%. Universal City's housing stock carries a median value of $249,400, and the median resident age is 35.3 years. Educational attainment runs 33.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 17 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 77% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2360.7 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Workers in Universal City report an average commute of 25.4 minutes, with 80.5% driving alone and 7.6% working from home. 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 Universal City'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 housing and income to population change to reported crime to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Universal City, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
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.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Universal City?
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 80.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 25.4 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Universal City?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.9%, 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 Universal City 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 +648 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 17 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Universal City?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Plainview (19,893 residents, $45,991 income); Alamo (20,008 residents, $54,234 income); Angleton (19,597 residents, $83,981 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Oroville, CA (19,855 residents); Miamisburg, OH (19,859 residents); Altamont, OR (19,844 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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Universal City?
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 2360.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 4% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2102.3
Violent rate
258.4
Total reported rate
2360.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Universal City?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 33.3% 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.
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
4
Bachelor's degree+
33.3%
Poverty estimate
7.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 7.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
C-
City profile score · Universal City, TX
51/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C+
33.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C
$75,439
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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 D
7.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
258 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Universal City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 64/100 (C+) · 33.3%
Household income: 55/100 (C) · $75,439
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Poverty rate: 48/100 (D) · 7.9%
Violent crime: 39/100 (F) · 258 /100k
Where Universal City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Universal City'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 - Universal City highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Universal City, TX (this city): home $249,400, crime 2,361/100k
Oroville, CA : home $280,600, crime 4,800/100k
Miamisburg, OH : home $203,700, crime 1,618/100k
Shelbyville, IN : home $151,100, crime 1,276/100k
Harvey, IL : home $86,100, crime 2,218/100k
Plainview, TX : home $107,800, crime 2,054/100k
Alamo, TX : home $119,300, crime 4,389/100k
Angleton, TX : home $187,400, crime 1,206/100k
Boerne, TX : home $437,100, crime 1,286/100k
Portland, TX : home $226,900, crime 1,000/100k
Alton, TX : home $126,600, crime 1,924/100k
How does Universal City compare to other US cities?
Where Universal City sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income57% higher than other cities
Home value56% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety25% 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, Universal City ranks #504 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 Universal City 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 Universal City near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Universal City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Universal City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#499 of 1,520
67th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#389 of 1,505
74th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#896 of 1,663
46th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#320 of 1,663
81st 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
57th percentile nationally for median household income · 25th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Universal City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Universal City'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 Universal City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$249,40044th percentilemore affordable than 44% 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
Universal City's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,149 of 15,516
More affordable than 47% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,291 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.3×, Universal City sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,149 of 15,516 and #1,291 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$75,439Universal City, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Universal City, 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 Universal City, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)33.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
19,853
Median Income
$75,439
Median Home Value
$249,400
Median Age
35.3
Poverty Rate
7.9%
Labor force participation
65.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
33.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2360.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
258.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2102.3
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.
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Universal City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
19,751 residents
2021
19,853 residents
2022
20,047 residents
2023
20,163 residents
2024
20,363 residents
2025
20,399 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
17
housing units authorized
Single-Family
17
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
73
73
0
$17.3M
2020
88
88
0
$20.7M
2021
103
103
0
$26.5M
2022
75
75
0
$21.4M
2023
43
33
10
$10.8M
2024
17
17
0
$4.9M
Permit volume decreased 77% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
25.4 minutes
Drive Alone
80.5%
Carpool
8.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
7.6%
Other
2.1%
Based on 9,975 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 Universal City. 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 Universal City 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 Universal City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Universal City 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, 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.