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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-WICHITA-FALLS-TX · Wichita Falls, TX 102,558 pop · income 33rd pct · 44 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 Wichita Falls
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wichita Falls on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
South Bend · lowest
52,512
South Bend · lowest
52,512 median HH income
40.7% of the leader · rank #1
Wichita Falls · this city
58,568
Wichita Falls · this city
58,568 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #2
Grenada · near
58,571
Grenada · near
58,571 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #3
Sheridan · near
58,571
Sheridan · near
58,571 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #4
Stewardson · near
58,571
Stewardson · near
58,571 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #5
Keswick · near
58,571
Keswick · near
58,571 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #6
Allen · highest
129,130
Allen · highest
129,130 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 Wichita Falls 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: 102,558.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Wichita Falls - the verdict
Nationally, Wichita Falls sits in the 33rd percentile for household income and the 16th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
33rd
percentile, household income
24th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
16th
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: Wichita Falls, TX
Wichita Falls is a mid-sized U.S. city in Texas, home to 102,558 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Wichita Falls report a median income of $58,568 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 12.0%. Wichita Falls's housing stock carries a median value of $142,600, and the median resident age is 33.0 years. About 25.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 56.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 106 residential building permits were authorized in Wichita Falls (Slowing), down 17% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Wichita Falls's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2969.0 in FBI UCR data, above 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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,149 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Texas run around $223, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.0 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Wichita Falls'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 population change to work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wichita Falls, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Wichita Falls?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Wichita Falls growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -523 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 106 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Which cities make useful reference points for Wichita Falls?
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 Edinburg (102,561 residents, $57,789 income); San Angelo (99,507 residents, $64,146 income); New Braunfels (98,700 residents, $88,257 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Daly City, CA (102,560 residents); Lee's Summit, MO (102,583 residents); South Bend, IN (102,866 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 44 Census tracts reveal inside Wichita Falls?
PlainCities matches 44 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Wichita Falls?
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.
Drive alone
71.0%
Work from home
7.5%
Public transit
0.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 49,936 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Wichita Falls?
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 32 public schools within the city match. 25.0% 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
12.0%
Bachelor's degree+
25.0%
Matched public schools
32
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Wichita Falls?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2969.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% 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
2969.0
Violent rate
350.3
Property rate
2618.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 12.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Wichita Falls, TX
38/100
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.
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 D
25.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$58,568
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
350 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Wichita Falls profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 49/100 (D) · 25.0%
Household income: 32/100 (F) · $58,568
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 12.0%
Violent crime: 26/100 (F) · 350 /100k
Where Wichita Falls sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Wichita Falls'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 - Wichita Falls highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Wichita Falls, TX (this city): home $142,600, crime 2,969/100k
Daly City, CA : home $1,092,700, crime 2,105/100k
Lee's Summit, MO : home $313,200, crime 2,444/100k
South Bend, IN : home $124,500, crime 3,009/100k
Goodyear, AZ : home $441,900, crime 1,645/100k
Vacaville, CA : home $596,700, crime 2,033/100k
Chico, CA : home $455,300, crime 2,597/100k
Edinburg, TX : home $174,800, crime 2,027/100k
San Angelo, TX : home $179,300, crime 2,704/100k
New Braunfels, TX : home $315,100, crime 1,440/100k
Allen, TX : home $429,900, crime 985/100k
Tyler, TX : home $216,400, crime 2,305/100k
Conroe, TX : home $283,100, crime 1,877/100k
How does Wichita Falls compare to other US cities?
Where Wichita Falls sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income33% higher than other cities
Home value24% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety16% 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, Wichita Falls ranks #560 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 Wichita Falls 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 Wichita Falls near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wichita Falls ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wichita Falls only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#890 of 1,520
41st percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#856 of 1,505
43rd percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#646 of 1,663
61st percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#500 of 1,663
70th 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
33rd percentile nationally for median household income · 16th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Wichita Falls's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Wichita Falls'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 Wichita Falls's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$142,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 76% 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
Wichita Falls's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,675 of 15,516
More affordable than 76% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#26 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.4×, Wichita Falls sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,675 of 15,516 and #26 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$58,568Wichita Falls, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wichita Falls, 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 Wichita Falls, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
102,558
Median Income
$58,568
Median Home Value
$142,600
Median Age
33.0
Poverty Rate
12.0%
Labor force participation
56.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2969.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
350.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2618.7
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
32
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Wichita Falls's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
102,474 residents
2021
102,836 residents
2022
102,623 residents
2023
102,475 residents
2024
102,068 residents
2025
101,951 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
106
housing units authorized
Single-Family
92
detached homes
Multifamily
14
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
128
92
36
$35.1M
2020
148
130
18
$34.3M
2021
93
93
0
$25.7M
2022
312
96
216
$51.7M
2023
127
75
52
$28.9M
2024
106
92
14
$29.2M
Permit volume decreased 17% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
71.0%
Carpool
11.4%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
8.0%
Work from Home
7.5%
Other
1.8%
Based on 49,936 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 Wichita Falls. 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 Wichita Falls 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 Wichita Falls sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wichita Falls 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.