Dilley is a city in Frio County, Texas. It has 3,769 residents. Dilley, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 8 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,362 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #794 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), home price to income ratio (low) and property crime rate (low). It ranks worst on voter turnout (low), reading scores (low) and hot days (high).
8Very low
Quality-of-life score
#14,362 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas
#794 of 1,016 in TX
Population
3,769 (2020-2024)
Land area
2 mi²
Density
1,617.2 /mi²
FIPS code
4820428
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.
Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.
Safety68#5,006/15,637
Economy42#9,105/15,631
Housing49#7,692/14,977
Health22#12,137/15,609
Healthcare5#14,867/15,650
Environment21#12,205/15,453
Education6#14,636/15,649
Infrastructure3#15,233/15,650
Community1#15,492/15,651
Leisure & amenities9#14,293/15,651
Strengths · Weaknesses
Indicators where Dilley, Texas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Frio 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.
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.
Cities and towns like Dilley, Texas five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Dilley, 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.
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).
Income
How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.
Homes
Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.
Getting to work
How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.
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.
Federal contracts performed here
Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Dilley is mostly in Frio County.
Over about five years, Dilley, Texas improved on 4 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 7 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.
Improved4
Poverty−20 points28.4% → 8.6%
Poverty rate
28.4% → 8.6%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
−20 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±12.7 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 10 → 70 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 99% of cities and towns
Uninsured−13 points25.3% → 12.1%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
25.3% → 12.1%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
−13 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±12.2 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 5 → 33 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 98% of cities and towns
Bachelor's++12 points5.5% → 17.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher
5.5% → 17.3%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+12 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±9.8 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 1 → 23 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 93% of cities and towns
Broadband+17 points62.9% → 79.5%
Broadband subscriptions
62.9% → 79.5%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
+17 pointsBeyond the margin of error (±15.8 points)
Standing among cities and towns: 7 → 8 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 84% of cities and towns
Declined0
No measure declined by more than its margin of error.
All 11 measures
Change of every measure of Dilley, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
16.3 min2015-2019
19.6 min2020-2024
+3.4 min
Within the margin of error
17%
Bachelor's degree or higher
5.5%2015-2019
17.3%2020-2024
+12 points
Improved
93%
Broadband subscriptions
62.9%2015-2019
79.5%2020-2024
+17 points
Improved
84%
Effective property tax rate
1.73%2015-2019
1.84%2020-2024
+0.1 points
Within the margin of error
6%
High school diploma or higher
62.9%2015-2019
72.3%2020-2024
+9.4 points
Within the margin of error
94%
Home price to income ratio
1.1×2015-2019
1.7×2020-2024
+0.6×
Within the margin of error
42%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.4212015-2019
0.4132020-2024
−0.008
Within the margin of error
57%
Median household income
$47,8322015-2019
$62,6002020-2024
+31%
Within the margin of error
57%
Poverty rate
28.4%2015-2019
8.6%2020-2024
−20 points
Improved
99%
Public transit commuters
0.0%2015-2019
0.0%2020-2024
0 points
Within the margin of error
60%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
25.3%2015-2019
12.1%2020-2024
−13 points
Improved
98%
“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.
For comparison, Dilley, Texas itself moved +0.6 points in standing on average over the same 8 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.
The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Frio County, the county holding most of Dilley's residents.
Frio County has 295 employer establishments, 159 for every 10,000 residents (0.64× the US rate of 248; 0.73× Texas's), with 4,949 paid employees at an average annual pay of $51,911. The Census Bureau also counts 1,350 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
295
1,350 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
159
US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees
4,949
Average annual pay
$51,911
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Frio County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation
County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)
Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 18,530 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.
Household income
1,096 households (±199)
Dilley, Texas
Texas share
Under $25k27%†300
Under $25k
27%±11.2 points
300 households±134 (90% margin of error)
15%in Texas
15%in United States
−2.5 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$25k–50k19%†210
$25k–50k
19%±10.1 points
210 households±117 (90% margin of error)
17%in Texas
17%in United States
−6.6 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$50k–75k13%†142
$50k–75k
13%±7.3 points
142 households±84 (90% margin of error)
16%in Texas
16%in United States
−5.3 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$75k–100k11%†121
$75k–100k
11%±7.7 points
121 households±87 (90% margin of error)
13%in Texas
13%in United States
+1.8 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$100k–150k24%†262
$100k–150k
24%±11.8 points
262 households±138 (90% margin of error)
17%in Texas
18%in United States
+10.8 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$150k–200k4.1%†45
$150k–200k
4.1%±5.1 points
45 households±57 (90% margin of error)
9.5%in Texas
9.6%in United States
+0.7 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
$200k or more1.5%†16
$200k or more
1.5%±2.1 points
16 households±23 (90% margin of error)
12%in Texas
13%in United States
+1.1 pointssince 2015–2019, within the margin of error
Wide margin of error: read with care
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.
