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Place dossier plate
SheetTX-ZAPATA-TX · Zapata, TX 4,879 pop · income 6th pct · 6 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 Zapata
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Zapata on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sparks · lowest
31,932
Sparks · lowest
31,932 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #1
Harts · near
37,644
Harts · near
37,644 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #2
Zapata · this city
37,653
Zapata · this city
37,653 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #3
Altus · near
37,656
Altus · near
37,656 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #4
Brooklyn · near
37,656
Brooklyn · near
37,656 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #5
Kinmundy · near
37,667
Kinmundy · near
37,667 median HH income
37.5% of the leader · rank #6
Eagleville CD… · highest
100,500
Eagleville CD… · highest
100,500 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Zapata 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: 4,879.
Nationally, Zapata sits in the 6th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
6th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
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: Zapata, TX
Texas's Zapata is a small town, with 4,879 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Zapata report a median income of $37,653 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 24.5%. Zapata's housing stock carries a median value of $104,300, and the median resident age is 39.3 years. About 17.7% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 43.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Zapata's yearly average temperature at 74.4°F with 20.4 inches of precipitation per year and 0.1 inches of snowfall.
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. 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. 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 Zapata'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 climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Zapata, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history; 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 Zapata?
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 77.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Zapata?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 24.5%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Zapata?
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Chula Vista CDP (Maverick County) (4,884 residents, $33,750 income); North Alamo (4,843 residents, $53,195 income); Progreso (4,918 residents, $35,938 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Carmi, IL (4,879 residents); Farmington, ME (4,879 residents); Denton, MD (4,879 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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Zapata?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 74.4°F, with 20.4 inches of precipitation and 0.1 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Texas is 49.0 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
74.4°F
Annual precipitation
20.4 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
49.0
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 17.7% 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
5
Bachelor's degree+
17.7%
Poverty estimate
24.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 24.5% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
F
City profile score · Zapata, TX
22/100
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.
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
17.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
24.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$37,653
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).
Zapata profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 28/100 (F) · 17.7%
Poverty rate: 7/100 (F) · 24.5%
Household income: 4/100 (F) · $37,653
How does Zapata compare to other US cities?
Where Zapata sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier 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 Zapata 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 Zapata near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Zapata ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Zapata only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,398 of 1,520
8th percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#1,109 of 1,505
26th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#203 of 1,663
88th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#786 of 1,663
52nd 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
6th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Zapata's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$104,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% 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
Zapata's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,418 of 15,516
More affordable than 65% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#4,717 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.8×, Zapata sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,418 of 15,516 and #4,717 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
$37,653Zapata, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Zapata, 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 Zapata, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)24.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,879
Median Income
$37,653
Median Home Value
$104,300
Median Age
39.3
Poverty Rate
24.5%
Labor force participation
43.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.7%
Climate
Avg Temperature
74.4°F
Annual Precipitation
20.4"
Annual Snowfall
0.1"
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.7%
Carpool
14.5%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.8%
Work from Home
6.0%
Based on 1,574 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 Zapata. 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 Zapata 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 Zapata sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Zapata 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.