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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-WESTERN-LAKE-TX · Western Lake, TX 1,418 pop · income 4th 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 Western Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Western Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Western Lake · this city · lowest
34,372
Western Lake · this city · lowest
34,372 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #1
Orchard Hill · near
34,375
Orchard Hill · near
34,375 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #2
Pinehurst · near
34,375
Pinehurst · near
34,375 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #3
Olmsted · near
34,375
Olmsted · near
34,375 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #4
Plevna · near
34,375
Plevna · near
34,375 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #5
Pewee Valley · highest
139,688
Pewee Valley · highest
139,688 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 Western Lake 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: 1,418.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Western Lake places in the 4th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
4th
percentile, household income
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: Western Lake, TX
1,418 people live in Western Lake, Texas - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $34,372 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 43.2 years. 19.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 51.3% 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. 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 Western Lake'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 comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Western Lake, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Western Lake?
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.
Within Texas, the closest population matches are China Spring (1,420 residents, $73,850 income); Southmayd (1,420 residents, $78,750 income); Iraan (1,415 residents, $42,167 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Poipu, HI (1,418 residents); Woodbine, IA (1,418 residents); Ilwaco, WA (1,418 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 does the journey to work look like in Western Lake?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.1%. 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
D
City profile score · Western Lake, TX
44/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$34,372
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Western Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 33/100 (F) · 19.5%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $34,372
How does Western Lake compare to other US cities?
Western Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income4% higher 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 Western Lake 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 Western Lake near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Western Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Western Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,442 of 1,520
5th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,440 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#701 of 1,663
58th 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
4th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$34,372Western Lake, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Western Lake, 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 Western Lake, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,418
Median Income
$34,372
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
43.2
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
51.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.5%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
66.1%
Carpool
10.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
21.2%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
2.5%
Based on 598 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 Western Lake. 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 Western Lake 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 Western Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Western Lake 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.