Scores by category

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

Safety60#6,302/15,637
Economy3#15,176/15,631
Housing57#6,423/14,977
Health15#13,253/15,609
Healthcare0#15,609/15,650
Environment49#7,910/15,453
Education3#15,175/15,649
Infrastructure18#12,834/15,650
Community0#15,647/15,651
Leisure & amenities16#13,212/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Crystal City, Texas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Zavala 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

Suicide rate · low0.0 /100k
100/100Texas 14.4 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataZavala County value
Firearm deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Texas 13.7 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataZavala County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Texas 5.1 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataZavala County value
Average commute time · low17.0 min
87/100Texas 26.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Grocery stores · high2.2 /10k
81/100Texas 1.1 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsZavala County value
Comfortable days · high30.2%
79/100Texas 30.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationZavala County value

Weaknesses

Public libraries · low0.0 /10k
0/100Texas 0.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesZavala County value
Food environment index · low3.2
0/100Texas 5.7United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteZavala County value
Physical inactivity · high49.1%
0/100Texas 29.6%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Reading scores · low2.24
0/100Texas 2.89United States 3.052018University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteZavala County value
Mammography screening · low22.0%
0/100Texas 42.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteZavala County value
Poor or fair health · high42.1%
0/100Texas 23.2%United States 19.9%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
7,310 (2015-2019) → 6,159 (2020-2024)
−16%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
54.4% (2015-2019) → 87.1% (2020-2024)
+33 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
60.6% (2015-2019) → 32.0% (2020-2024)
−29 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.4× (2015-2019) → 3.0× (2020-2024)
+116%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Poverty rateWorsening
26.7% (2015-2019) → 38.2% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
33.2% (2015-2019) → 24.5% (2020-2024)
−8.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Crystal City, Texas improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 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.

Improved3

Broadband+33 points54.4% → 87.1%
Rent burden−29 points60.6% → 32.0%
Rent / income−8.7 points33.2% → 24.5%

Declined1

Price / income+1.6×1.4× → 3.0×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Crystal City, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	14.3 min2015-2019	17.0 min2020-2024	+2.8 min	Within the margin of error	21%
Broadband subscriptions	54.4%2015-2019	87.1%2020-2024	+33 points	Improved	99%
Child poverty rate	47.8%2015-2019	51.0%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Effective property tax rate	1.43%2015-2019	1.49%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	9%
High school diploma or higher	72.5%2015-2019	71.4%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Home price to income ratio	1.4×2015-2019	3.0×2020-2024	+1.6×	Declined	7%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4002015-2019	0.4472020-2024	+0.047	Within the margin of error	18%
Median household income	$34,7972015-2019	$36,3282020-2024	+4.4%	Within the margin of error	11%
Poverty rate	26.7%2015-2019	38.2%2020-2024	+11 points	Within the margin of error	3%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	33.2%2015-2019	24.5%2020-2024	−8.7 points	Improved	91%
Rent-burdened households	60.6%2015-2019	32.0%2020-2024	−29 points	Improved	97%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.3%2015-2019	13.5%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	56%

“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 Crystal City, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Crystal City, 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, Crystal City, Texas itself moved +6.8 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

6,159 residents (±15)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: 30–39 women (+7.1 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

6,159 residents (±15)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

White5.8%†359
Black0.2%†11
Hispanic or Latino94%5,777
Asian0.2%†12
American Indian and Alaska Native0.0%0
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander0.0%0
Other or two or more races0.0%0

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: White (+5.4 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B03002View table on data.census.gov

Education

3,877 residents (±244)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

No high school diploma29%1,109
High school or GED32%1,256
Some college23%†900
Associate degree5.5%†213
Bachelor's degree9.3%†360
Graduate degree1.0%†39

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Some college (+9.3 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B15003View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

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

Household income

2,188 households (±170)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k29%†631
$25k–50k40%†877
$50k–75k8.5%†185
$75k–100k8.1%†177
$100k–150k11%†230
$150k–200k4.0%†88
$200k or more0.0%0

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $100k–150k (+8.1 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,188 households (±170)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

Own63%1,386
Rent37%802

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

684 households (±213)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

Under $75071%†485
$750–1,0008.3%†57
$1,000–1,50021%†142

Home values

1,386 homes (±242)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

Under $150k67%†927
$150k–250k32%†449
$250k–400k0.3%†4

Age of homes

2,526 homes (±179)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

2010 or later11%†267
2000–20093.9%†98
1980–199924%†604

Size of homes

2,526 homes (±179)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

Studio1.7%†42
1 bedroom7.7%†194
2 bedrooms20%†498

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

2,389 workers (±219)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone87%2,070
Carpool6.6%†157
Public transit0.0%0
Walk2.3%†55
Bike0.0%0
Work from home4.5%†107
Other0.0%0

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Drive alone (−8.8 points).

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

2,282 workers (±237)

Crystal City, Texas
Texas share

Under 15 min54%1,233
15–29 min35%†793
30–44 min0.9%†21

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

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 Zavala County, the county holding most of Crystal City's residents.

Zavala County has 96 employer establishments, 103 for every 10,000 residents (0.41× the US rate of 248; 0.47× Texas's), with 1,367 paid employees at an average annual pay of $42,020. The Census Bureau also counts 886 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 96; 886 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 103; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 1,367
Average annual pay: $42,020; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	11	11.7	0.64×Fewer than typical	108	$17,944	23
Specialty trade contractors	8	8.5	0.55×Too few to compare	268	$53,302	67
Gasoline stations	7	7.5	2.31×Too few to compare	82	$17,902	—
Full-service restaurants	6	6.4	0.83×Too few to compare	41	$19,000	12
Truck transportation	6	6.4	1.27×Too few to compare	8	$50,125	75
Ambulatory health care services	5	5.3	0.26×Too few to compare	104	$37,683	—
Child day care services	5	5.3	2.19×Too few to compare	34	$22,971	40
Limited-service restaurants	5	5.3	0.67×Too few to compare	67	$17,299	5
Other specialty trade contractors	5	5.3	2.13×Too few to compare	257	$54,584	24
Banks and credit unions	4	4.3	1.32×Too few to compare	31	$33,935	—
Religious organizations	4	4.3	0.77×Too few to compare	12	$16,667	—
Traveler accommodation	4	4.3	2.37×Too few to compare	23	$11,870	—

Rank places for an industry Open Zavala County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 9,365 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 Crystal City, Texas: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
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

83.4KFY2017
20.5KFY2018
4.2KFY2025

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 Crystal City, Texas, so they do not add up across cities.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Crystal City is mostly in Zavala County.

See federal money in Zavala 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.

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

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.

Zavala County3100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Zavala 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/4818020