City · Jim Wells County, Texas

Alice, Texas

Alice is a city in Jim Wells County, Texas, part of the Alice, TX metro area. It has 17,707 residents. Alice, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 0 out of 100 (very low), ranking #15,632 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #1,015 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on grocery stores (high), drug overdose deaths (low) and depression (low). It ranks worst on hot days (high), child poverty rate (high) and broadband subscriptions (low).

0Very low

Quality-of-life score: #15,632 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #1,015 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 17,707 (2020-2024)
Land area: 12 mi²
Density: 1,476.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 4801852

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety12#13,734/15,637
Economy3#15,222/15,631
Housing17#12,370/14,977
Health19#12,665/15,609
Healthcare1#15,490/15,650
Environment11#13,763/15,453
Education6#14,680/15,649
Infrastructure1#15,539/15,650
Community1#15,548/15,651
Leisure & amenities28#11,277/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Alice, Texas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Jim Wells County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Grocery stores · high2.3 /10k
83/100Texas 1.1 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJim Wells County value
Drug overdose deaths · low9.6 /100k
83/100Texas 13.4 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataJim Wells County value
Depression · low20.4%
79/100Texas 21.2%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
High ozone days · low0 days
76/100Texas 7 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyJim Wells County value
Home price to income ratio · low2.7×
72/100Texas 3.6×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Comfortable days · high27.5%
66/100Texas 30.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationJim Wells County value

Weaknesses

Hot days · high159 days
1/100Texas 111 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationJim Wells County value
Child poverty rate · high52.9%
1/100Texas 17.9%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Broadband subscriptions · low73.7%
2/100Texas 91.3%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Physical inactivity · high42.0%
2/100Texas 29.6%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high25.5%
2/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Poverty rate · high31.4%
2/100Texas 13.4%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
19,007 (2015-2019) → 17,707 (2020-2024)
−6.8%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
62.1% (2015-2019) → 73.7% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateWorsening
44.5% (2015-2019) → 52.9% (2020-2024)
+8.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
34.9% (2015-2019) → 43.2% (2020-2024)
+8.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$36,059 (2015-2019) → $48,676 (2020-2024)
+35%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
High school diploma or higherImproving
75.5% (2015-2019) → 81.1% (2020-2024)
+5.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Alice, Texas improved on 2 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 13 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Broadband+12 points62.1% → 73.7%
Household income+35%$36,059 → $48,676

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Alice, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.6 min2015-2019	23.0 min2020-2024	−2.6 min	Within the margin of error	76%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.4%2015-2019	14.1%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Broadband subscriptions	62.1%2015-2019	73.7%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	67%
Child poverty rate	44.5%2015-2019	52.9%2020-2024	+8.4 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Effective property tax rate	1.55%2015-2019	1.40%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	49%
High school diploma or higher	75.5%2015-2019	81.1%2020-2024	+5.6 points	Within the margin of error	85%
Home price to income ratio	2.2×2015-2019	2.7×2020-2024	+0.5×	Within the margin of error	45%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5202015-2019	0.4882020-2024	−0.032	Within the margin of error	75%
Median household income	$36,0592015-2019	$48,6762020-2024	+35%	Improved	65%
Poverty rate	26.9%2015-2019	31.4%2020-2024	+4.5 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	34.9%2015-2019	43.2%2020-2024	+8.3 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Rent-burdened households	62.0%2015-2019	65.3%2020-2024	+3.4 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Unemployment rate	5.1%2015-2019	4.1%2020-2024	−1 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	23.7%2015-2019	25.5%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	27%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Alice, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Alice, Texas in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Alice, Texas itself moved +0.1 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

17,707 residents (±28)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

6,100 households (±334)

Alice, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k31%1,861
$25k–50k21%1,270
$50k–75k14%†838

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

6,100 households (±334)

Alice, Texas
Texas share

Own57%3,505
Rent43%2,595

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

7,128 workers (±512)

Alice, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone83%5,933
Carpool9.0%†641
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Alice, TX

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Jim Wells County, the county holding most of Alice's residents.

Jim Wells County has 783 employer establishments, 202 for every 10,000 residents (0.81× the US rate of 248; 0.92× Texas's), with 12,790 paid employees at an average annual pay of $37,009. The Census Bureau also counts 3,403 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 783; 3,403 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 202; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 12,790
Average annual pay: $37,009; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Jim Wells County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	69	17.8	0.85×About typical	4,320	$20,481	130
Restaurants and other eating places	65	16.8	0.91×About typical	1,112	$17,566	37
Specialty trade contractors	38	9.8	0.63×Fewer than typical	309	$54,065	345
Limited-service restaurants	30	7.7	0.96×About typical	699	$17,064	9
Full-service restaurants	29	7.5	0.97×About typical	359	$18,565	20
Truck transportation	22	5.7	1.12×About typical	186	$40,780	158
Gasoline stations	21	5.4	1.67×More than typical	232	$22,224	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	20	5.2	1.17×About typical	135	$72,000	51
Offices of physicians	19	4.9	0.76×Fewer than typical	216	$61,384	7
Religious organizations	19	4.9	0.88×About typical	87	$20,644	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	18	4.6	0.92×About typical	71	$26,338	95
Building equipment contractors	18	4.6	0.77×Fewer than typical	174	$53,000	57

Rank places for an industry Open Jim Wells County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 38,766 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $1,348 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Alice, Texas: $0.08 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1,348; −97% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.08; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Defense Health Agency$1,348100%

Top recipients

ENVIGO GLOBAL SERVICES INC$1,348100%

Spending by fiscal year

9.3KFY2017
3.3KFY2018
-482.5FY2019
1KFY2020
-4.9KFY2021
49.5KFY2022
42.6KFY2023
114.4KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other animal production · 1129$1,348100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Alice, Texas, so they do not add up across cities.

Alice, Texas's figures are part of those of Jim Wells County, TX ($154.6K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.9% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Alice is mostly in Jim Wells County.

See federal money in Jim Wells County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Alice, Texas is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Monica De La CruzR-TX-15 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 5.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Jim Wells County1100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Alice, TX0

Other cities and towns in Jim Wells County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4801852

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends