Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetTX-WILLIS-TX · Willis, TX 6,693 pop · income 25th 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 Willis
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Willis on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Galax · lowest
41,438
Galax · lowest
41,438 median HH income
21.7% of the leader · rank #1
First Mesa · near
53,173
First Mesa · near
53,173 median HH income
27.8% of the leader · rank #2
Sallis · near
53,177
Sallis · near
53,177 median HH income
27.9% of the leader · rank #3
Willis · this city
53,182
Willis · this city
53,182 median HH income
27.9% of the leader · rank #4
Westphalia · near
53,182
Westphalia · near
53,182 median HH income
27.9% of the leader · rank #5
Polk · near
53,182
Polk · near
53,182 median HH income
27.9% of the leader · rank #6
Cochituate · highest
190,938
Cochituate · highest
190,938 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 Willis 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: 6,693.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Willis - the verdict
Nationally, Willis sits in the 25th percentile for household income and the 22nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
25th
percentile, household income
15th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
22nd
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: Willis, TX
Willis is a small town in Texas, home to 6,693 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Willis brings in $53,182 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 5.0%. Willis's housing stock carries a median value of $113,900, and the median resident age is 42.3 years. About 16.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 56.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 183 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 815% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2546.9 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near 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: the state registers 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,149 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $223 across Texas, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Willis'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 population change to schools and households to work and mobility to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Willis, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
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. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Willis?
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 Liberty Hill (6,706 residents, $111,000 income); Lackland AFB (6,650 residents, $110,833 income); Aubrey (6,637 residents, $100,596 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Heathcote, NJ (6,689 residents); Cochituate, MA (6,688 residents); Galax, VA (6,698 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,229 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +19.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 183 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.
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 12 public schools within the city match. 16.9% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Willis?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 84.9%. 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.
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 Willis?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2546.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 12% 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
2546.9
Violent rate
321.9
Property rate
2225.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Willis?
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 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$113,900
Household income
$53,182
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 B-
5.0%
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.
Violent crime F
322 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$53,182
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Willis profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 65/100 (B-) · 5.0%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Violent crime: 30/100 (F) · 322 /100k
Household income: 25/100 (F) · $53,182
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.9%
Where Willis sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Willis'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 - Willis highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Willis, TX (this city): home $113,900, crime 2,547/100k
Galax, VA : home $126,800, crime 4,845/100k
Nephi, UT : home $379,800, crime 870/100k
Liberty Hill, TX : home $350,500, crime 798/100k
Aubrey, TX : home $338,900, crime 1,891/100k
Burnet, TX : home $245,900, crime 606/100k
Iowa Park, TX : home $121,800, crime 789/100k
Keene, TX : home $219,900, crime 642/100k
How does Willis compare to other US cities?
Here's how Willis stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income25% higher than other cities
Home value15% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety22% 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, Willis ranks #523 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 Willis 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 Willis near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Willis ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Willis only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,049 of 1,520
31st percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#1,021 of 1,505
32nd percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#1,116 of 1,663
32nd percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#832 of 1,663
49th 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
25th percentile nationally for median household income · 22nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Willis's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Willis'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 Willis's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$113,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 85% 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
Willis's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,188 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,068 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Willis sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,188 of 15,516 and #2,068 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$53,182Willis, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Willis, 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 Willis, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,693
Median Income
$53,182
Median Home Value
$113,900
Median Age
42.3
Poverty Rate
5.0%
Labor force participation
56.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2546.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
321.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2225.0
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
12
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Willis's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,423 residents
2021
6,686 residents
2022
6,937 residents
2023
6,965 residents
2024
7,191 residents
2025
7,652 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
183
housing units authorized
Single-Family
173
detached homes
Multifamily
10
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
27.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
20
20
0
$1.6M
2020
96
96
0
$20.9M
2021
105
105
0
$25.1M
2022
21
17
4
$4.8M
2023
80
80
0
$21.4M
2024
183
173
10
$50.4M
Permit volume increased 815% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.9%
Carpool
6.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
6.6%
Based on 3,308 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 Willis. 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 Willis 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 Willis sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Willis 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.