Town · Callahan County, Texas

Cross Plains, Texas

Cross Plains is a town in Callahan County, Texas, part of the Abilene, TX metro area. It has 1,019 residents. Cross Plains, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 23 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,996 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #440 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), home price to income ratio (low) and homicide rate (low). It ranks worst on mental health providers (low), traffic deaths (high) and restaurants and bars (low).

23Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,996 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #440 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 1,019 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 849.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 4817816

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 71 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.

Safety57#6,787/15,637
Economy40#9,415/15,631
Housing52#7,120/14,977
Health26#11,600/15,609
Healthcare1#15,501/15,650
Environment68#4,962/15,453
Education28#11,200/15,649
Infrastructure42#9,003/15,650
Community19#12,672/15,651
Leisure & amenities4#15,097/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Cross Plains, Texas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Callahan 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

Job growth · high13.0%
100/100Texas 0.6%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataCallahan County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.7×
95/100Texas 3.6×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Texas 5.1 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCallahan County value
Child care cost burden · low20.8%
92/100Texas 24.5%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCallahan County value
Students per teacher · low11.2×
92/100Texas 15.0×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsCallahan County value
Public EV charging ports · high16.6 /10k
92/100Texas 4.0 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyCallahan County value

Weaknesses

Mental health providers · low21 /100k
1/100Texas 181 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCallahan County value
Traffic deaths · high54.9 /100k
1/100Texas 14.1 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataCallahan County value
Restaurants and bars · low2.8 /10k
1/100Texas 7.8 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCallahan County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high27.6%
2/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Primary care physicians · low14 /100k
2/100Texas 61 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCallahan County value
Distance to an airport · high146 mi
3/100Texas 33 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauCallahan County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
23.3% (2015-2019) → 43.4% (2020-2024)
+20 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
75.5% (2015-2019) → 94.3% (2020-2024)
+19 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateWorsening
6.9% (2015-2019) → 17.8% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$34,205 (2015-2019) → $47,292 (2020-2024)
+38%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Poverty rateWorsening
11.6% (2015-2019) → 16.9% (2020-2024)
+5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Income inequality (Gini index)Worsening
0.378 (2015-2019) → 0.455 (2020-2024)
+20%5 yearsCensus table B19083US 0.482 → 0.483

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, Cross Plains, Texas improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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.

Improved1

Broadband+19 points75.5% → 94.3%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Cross Plains, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	27.8 min2015-2019	32.5 min2020-2024	+4.8 min	Within the margin of error	11%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.7%2015-2019	17.0%2020-2024	+0.3 points	Within the margin of error	29%
Broadband subscriptions	75.5%2015-2019	94.3%2020-2024	+19 points	Improved	88%
Effective property tax rate	1.16%2015-2019	1.04%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	39%
High school diploma or higher	89.8%2015-2019	91.7%2020-2024	+2 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Home price to income ratio	1.9×2015-2019	1.7×2020-2024	−0.2×	Within the margin of error	88%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3782015-2019	0.4552020-2024	+0.076	Within the margin of error	8%
Median household income	$34,2052015-2019	$47,2922020-2024	+38%	Within the margin of error	71%
Poverty rate	11.6%2015-2019	16.9%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	23.8%2015-2019	25.6%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	24.8%2015-2019	27.6%2020-2024	+2.8 points	Within the margin of error	20%

“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 Cross Plains, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Cross Plains, 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, Cross Plains, Texas itself moved −3.6 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

1,019 residents (±278)

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

383 households (±97)

Cross Plains, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k29%†112
$25k–50k22%†83
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

383 households (±97)

Cross Plains, Texas
Texas share

Own63%241
Rent37%†142

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

388 workers (±108)

Cross Plains, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone80%†312
Carpool12%†47
Public transit

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 Abilene, 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 Callahan County, the county holding most of Cross Plains's residents.

Callahan County has 252 employer establishments, 175 for every 10,000 residents (0.70× the US rate of 248; 0.80× Texas's), with 1,725 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,389. The Census Bureau also counts 1,393 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 252; 1,393 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 175; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 1,725
Average annual pay: $46,389; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	28	19.4	1.25×More than typical	115	$55,930	202
Restaurants and other eating places	20	13.9	0.75×Fewer than typical	269	$17,335	8
Religious organizations	13	9	1.62×More than typical	57	$15,246	—
Limited-service restaurants	12	8.3	1.04×About typical	208	$14,404	4
Building equipment contractors	11	7.6	1.27×More than typical	63	$54,317	45
Gasoline stations	10	6.9	2.14×More than typical	121	$34,314	—
Other specialty trade contractors	9	6.2	2.49×Too few to compare	36	$60,778	80
Truck transportation	9	6.2	1.23×Too few to compare	64	$75,594	34
Ambulatory health care services	8	5.5	0.27×Too few to compare	91	$42,407	29
Construction of buildings	8	5.5	0.73×Too few to compare	8	$44,250	71
Full-service restaurants	7	4.9	0.63×Too few to compare	43	$12,930	4
Management, scientific and technical consulting	7	4.9	0.72×Too few to compare	18	$34,056	23

Rank places for an industry Open Callahan County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 14,427 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Cross Plains, Texas: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

551.4FY2017
-43FY2018
444.8FY2019
0FY2020
72.9FY2022
91.7FY2023
44.1FY2024

What was bought

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 Cross Plains, Texas, so they do not add up across cities.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Cross Plains is mostly in Callahan County.

See federal money in Callahan 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.

Cross Plains, Texas is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Callahan County41100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Abilene, TX37

Other cities and towns in Callahan 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/4817816

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends