City · El Paso County, Texas

El Paso, Texas

El Paso is a city in El Paso County, Texas, part of the El Paso, TX metro area. It has 680,130 residents. El Paso, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 17 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,928 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #557 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on distance to an airport (low), comfortable days (high) and natural hazard risk (low). It ranks worst on mammography screening (low), voter turnout (low) and high school diploma or higher (low).

17Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,928 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #557 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 680,130 (2020-2024)
Land area: 259 mi²
Density: 2,627.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 4824000

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 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.

Safety49#7,961/15,637
Economy15#13,252/15,631
Housing27#10,971/14,977
Health55#7,057/15,609
Healthcare11#13,906/15,650
Environment40#9,336/15,453
Education36#9,971/15,649
Infrastructure45#8,663/15,650
Community2#15,253/15,651
Leisure & amenities23#12,022/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Distance to an airport · low9 mi
96/100Texas 33 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauEl Paso County value
Comfortable days · high32.8%
89/100Texas 30.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationEl Paso County value
Natural hazard risk · low6.4
89/100Texas 39.62025Federal Emergency Management AgencyEl Paso County value
Child care cost burden · low22.3%
87/100Texas 24.5%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEl Paso County value
Injury deaths · low61 /100k
87/100Texas 69 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEl Paso County value
Preventable hospital stays · low2,119 /100k
81/100Texas 2,991 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEl Paso County value

Weaknesses

Mammography screening · low30.0%
2/100Texas 42.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEl Paso County value
Voter turnout · low48.0%
3/100Texas 57.8%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionEl Paso County value
High school diploma or higher · low82.2%
3/100Texas 86.0%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high23.6%
3/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Days with unhealthy air · high17.3%
3/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEl Paso County value
Median Air Quality Index · high70
3/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEl Paso County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
78.7% (2015-2019) → 89.3% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
3.3 /1k (2021) → 2.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−28%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$47,568 (2015-2019) → $59,745 (2020-2024)
+26%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
49.2% (2015-2019) → 53.4% (2020-2024)
+4.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.7× (2015-2019) → 3.1× (2020-2024)
+15%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
25.1% (2015-2019) → 28.1% (2020-2024)
+3.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, El Paso, Texas improved on 5 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 6. 3 moved within the margin of error and 1 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.

Improved5

Broadband+11 points78.7% → 89.3%
Child poverty−2.7 points27.1% → 24.4%
High school++1.9 points80.3% → 82.2%
Bachelor's++3.1 points25.1% → 28.1%
Household income+26%$47,568 → $59,745

Declined6

Uninsured+2.2 points21.5% → 23.6%
Rent / income+2.1 points29.7% → 31.8%
Rent burden+4.2 points49.2% → 53.4%
Inequality+0.0110.464 → 0.475
Transit use−0.7 points1.6% → 0.9%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of El Paso, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.2 min2015-2019	23.4 min2020-2024	+0.2 min	Within the margin of error	45%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1%2015-2019	28.1%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Improved	52%
Broadband subscriptions	78.7%2015-2019	89.3%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	63%
Child poverty rate	27.1%2015-2019	24.4%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Improved	59%
Effective property tax rate	2.12%2015-2019	1.80%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	77%
High school diploma or higher	80.3%2015-2019	82.2%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Improved	57%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	3.1×2020-2024	+0.4×	Declined	54%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4642015-2019	0.4752020-2024	+0.011	Declined	41%
Median household income	$47,5682015-2019	$59,7452020-2024	+26%	Improved	46%
Poverty rate	19.1%2015-2019	18.4%2020-2024	−0.7 points	Within the margin of error	51%
Public transit commuters	1.6%2015-2019	0.9%2020-2024	−0.7 points	Declined	19%
Rent as share of income	29.7%2015-2019	31.8%2020-2024	+2.1 points	Declined	39%
Rent-burdened households	49.2%2015-2019	53.4%2020-2024	+4.2 points	Declined	40%
Unemployment rate	6.1%2015-2019	6.0%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	53%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	21.5%2015-2019	23.6%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Declined	24%

“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 El Paso, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of El Paso, 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, El Paso, Texas itself moved −2.1 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

680,130 residents (±130)

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

245,346 households (±1,368)

El Paso, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k22%53,382
$25k–50k21%51,617
$50k–75k18%43,938

Homes

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

Owners and renters

245,346 households (±1,368)

El Paso, Texas
Texas share

Own61%149,169
Rent39%96,177

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+2.0 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

305,134 workers (±3,248)

El Paso, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone75%229,984
Carpool12%35,455
Public transit0.9%2,747

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 El Paso, 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 El Paso County, the county holding most of El Paso's residents.

El Paso County has 16,280 employer establishments, 186 for every 10,000 residents (0.75× the US rate of 248; 0.85× Texas's), with 254,282 paid employees at an average annual pay of $42,760. The Census Bureau also counts 85,247 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 16,280; 85,247 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 186; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 254,282
Average annual pay: $42,760; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	1,585	18.2	0.87×About typical	23,707	$49,102	3,276
Restaurants and other eating places	1,574	18	0.98×About typical	33,621	$19,368	827
Lessors of real estate	866	9.9	0.81×About typical	2,757	$50,054	5,254
Specialty trade contractors	785	9	0.58×Fewer than typical	7,904	$48,781	7,245
Truck transportation	710	8.1	1.61×More than typical	7,596	$56,578	5,618
Limited-service restaurants	703	8.1	1.00×About typical	15,864	$17,676	224
Full-service restaurants	662	7.6	0.99×About typical	14,891	$21,147	365
Offices of physicians	639	7.3	1.13×About typical	5,707	$85,636	597
Automotive repair and maintenance	430	4.9	0.98×About typical	2,502	$36,646	2,019
Building equipment contractors	406	4.6	0.77×Fewer than typical	4,155	$50,843	1,818
Construction of buildings	399	4.6	0.60×Fewer than typical	3,202	$57,825	4,564
Insurance agencies and brokerages	376	4.3	0.98×About typical	2,342	$50,567	1,361

Rank places for an industry Open El Paso County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 873,242 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 $3.8B of federal contract obligations were for work performed in El Paso, Texas: $5,619 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $3.8B; +620% vs FY2025
Per resident: $5,619; US $1,994
Sole-source: 6.6%; US 30%
Single offer: 42%; 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

U.S. Customs and Border Protection$3.3B86%
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement$351.7M9.2%
Forest Service$40.4M1.1%
Defense Logistics Agency$39.4M1.0%
Department of the Army$38.4M1.0%
Department of Veterans Affairs$19.3M0.5%
Office of Procurement Operations$11.2M0.3%
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management$11M0.3%

Top recipients

AMI METALS, INC$1.7B43%
BARNARD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INCORPORATED$1.6B41%
AMENTUM SERVICES, INC.$175.7M4.6%
ACQUISITION LOGISTICS LLC$159.9M4.2%
MANAGEMENT & ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL INC$39M1.0%

Spending by fiscal year

527.6MFY2017
684.2MFY2018
602.8MFY2019
720.8MFY2020
663MFY2021
921.9MFY2022
974.6MFY2023
893.2M

Top industries (NAICS)

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$1.8B48%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$1.6B42%
Investigation and security services · 5616$196.3M5.1%
Scientific research and development services · 5417$42.1M1.1%
Cut and sew apparel manufacturing · 3152$17.3M0.5%
Apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing · 3159

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in El Paso, Texas

BULK STEEL FOR SOUTHWEST BORDER BARRIER CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS$2B
AMI METALS, INC· El Paso County, TX· Professional services· Feb 11, 2026 – Sep 24, 2026· 70B01C26C00000006
BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION FOR EL PASO SECTOR - EPT-5$1.6B
BARNARD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INCORPORATED· El Paso County, TX· Construction & real property· Apr 24, 2026 – Apr 24, 2026· 70B01C26F00000292
CONSTRUCTION OF AMERICAN CANAL LOWER REACH REPLACEMENT$90.6M
ODIN ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS, LLC· El Paso County, TX· Construction & real property· Aug 22, 2023 – Apr 29, 2026· 191BWC23C0006
BASE AWARD FOR OPERATION OF THE CARRASCO JOB CORPS CENTER WITH OUTREACH AND ADMISSIONS AND CAREER TRANSITION SERVICES.

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 El Paso, Texas, so they do not add up across cities.

El Paso, Texas's figures are part of those of El Paso County, TX ($5.4B in FY2026), never added to them: 71% of that total.

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

See federal money in El Paso 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.

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

House

Veronica EscobarD-TX-16 · 85% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 1.2%

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.

El Paso County32100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

El Paso, TX21

Other cities and towns in El Paso 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/4824000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends