Scores by category

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

Safety58#6,496/15,637
Economy15#13,239/15,631
Housing27#10,972/14,977
Health50#7,741/15,609
Healthcare4#14,978/15,650
Environment13#13,418/15,453
Education27#11,397/15,649
Infrastructure12#13,749/15,650
Community5#14,920/15,651
Leisure & amenities9#14,288/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Natural hazard risk · low2.1
97/100Texas 39.62025Federal Emergency Management AgencyWebb County value
Suicide rate · low5.9 /100k
97/100Texas 14.4 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataWebb County value
Drug overdose deaths · low5.2 /100k
96/100Texas 13.4 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataWebb County value
Injury deaths · low49 /100k
95/100Texas 69 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWebb County value
Firearm deaths · low5.6 /100k
87/100Texas 13.7 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataWebb County value
Math scores · high3.33
86/100Texas 3.15United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWebb County value

Weaknesses

High school diploma or higher · low71.7%
1/100Texas 86.0%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high29.7%
1/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Hot days · high168 days
1/100Texas 111 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationWebb County value
Mammography screening · low28.0%
1/100Texas 42.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWebb County value
Grocery stores · low0.6 /10k
2/100Texas 1.1 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWebb County value
Physical inactivity · high40.3%
3/100Texas 29.6%United States 26.5%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.

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
68.2% (2015-2019) → 87.4% (2020-2024)
+19 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
36.8% (2015-2019) → 28.3% (2020-2024)
−8.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$47,593 (2015-2019) → $63,915 (2020-2024)
+34%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
New homes permittedWorsening
6.6 /1k (2021) → 4.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−32%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Poverty rateImproving
26.7% (2015-2019) → 20.9% (2020-2024)
−5.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
High school diploma or higherImproving
68.6% (2015-2019) → 71.7% (2020-2024)
+3.1 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, Laredo, Texas improved on 8 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 5 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.

Improved8

Broadband+19 points68.2% → 87.4%
Property tax−0.4 points2.04% → 1.62%
Poverty−5.8 points26.7% → 20.9%
Child poverty−8.5 points36.8% → 28.3%
High school++3.1 points68.6% → 71.7%

Declined2

Transit use−0.4 points1.2% → 0.7%
Price / income+0.3×2.7× → 3.0×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Laredo, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.7 min2015-2019	21.6 min2020-2024	+0.9 min	Within the margin of error	37%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%2015-2019	22.0%2020-2024	+2.6 points	Improved	48%
Broadband subscriptions	68.2%2015-2019	87.4%2020-2024	+19 points	Improved	89%
Child poverty rate	36.8%2015-2019	28.3%2020-2024	−8.5 points	Improved	79%
Effective property tax rate	2.04%2015-2019	1.62%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Improved	86%
High school diploma or higher	68.6%2015-2019	71.7%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Improved	69%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	3.0×2020-2024	+0.3×	Declined	61%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4762015-2019	0.4512020-2024	−0.025	Improved	71%
Median household income	$47,5932015-2019	$63,9152020-2024	+34%	Improved	64%
Poverty rate	26.7%2015-2019	20.9%2020-2024	−5.8 points	Improved	83%
Public transit commuters	1.2%2015-2019	0.7%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Declined	21%
Rent as share of income	32.0%2015-2019	32.2%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	53%
Rent-burdened households	53.5%2015-2019	54.9%2020-2024	+1.4 points	Within the margin of error	51%
Unemployment rate	4.8%2015-2019	5.4%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	30.0%2015-2019	29.7%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	50%

“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 Laredo, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Laredo, 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, Laredo, Texas itself moved +4.4 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

257,619 residents (±37)

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

78,082 households (±675)

Laredo, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k20%15,855
$25k–50k21%16,068
$50k–75k16%12,611

Homes

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

Owners and renters

78,082 households (±675)

Laredo, Texas
Texas share

Own64%50,020
Rent36%28,062

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+2.2 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

110,463 workers (±1,758)

Laredo, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone79%87,474
Carpool11%12,692
Public transit0.7%†813

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 Laredo, 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 Webb County, the county holding most of Laredo's residents.

Webb County has 5,840 employer establishments, 215 for every 10,000 residents (0.86× the US rate of 248; 0.98× Texas's), with 83,434 paid employees at an average annual pay of $38,101. The Census Bureau also counts 34,347 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 5,840; 34,347 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 215; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 83,434
Average annual pay: $38,101; US $68,342

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

Truck transportation	723	26.6	5.26×More than typical	6,188	$54,358	4,580
Restaurants and other eating places	410	15.1	0.82×About typical	9,607	$18,627	370
Ambulatory health care services	397	14.6	0.70×Fewer than typical	6,670	$38,493	772
Limited-service restaurants	200	7.4	0.92×About typical	5,416	$17,462	95
Lessors of real estate	195	7.2	0.58×Fewer than typical	636	$42,145	2,109
Specialty trade contractors	167	6.1	0.40×Fewer than typical	1,321	$43,642	2,822
Clothing and accessories stores	160	5.9	1.62×More than typical	2,252	$19,740	383
Full-service restaurants	154	5.7	0.74×Fewer than typical	3,529	$20,372	155
Offices of physicians	136	5	0.77×Fewer than typical	1,310	$62,527	118
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	124	4.6	1.12×About typical	709	$34,415	443
Automotive repair and maintenance	115	4.2	0.84×About typical	1,285	$51,065	1,053
Management, scientific and technical consulting	102	3.8	0.56×Fewer than typical	397	$59,401	622

Rank places for an industry Open Webb County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 271,942 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 $1.7B of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Laredo, Texas: $6,702 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1.7B; +3,546% vs FY2025
Per resident: $6,702; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.7%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.6%; 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$1.7B98%
Public Buildings Service$18.9M1.1%
U.S. Marshals Service$5.7M0.3%
Federal Acquisition Service$3.7M0.2%
Department of the Army$2.2M0.1%
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management$2.2M0.1%
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement$908.8K0.1%
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service$185.8K0.0%

Top recipients

SOUTHWEST VALLEY CONSTRUCTORS CO$521.5M30%
GRANITE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY$512.3M30%
CLARK CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC$341.3M20%
SPENCER CONSTRUCTION LLC$269.2M16%
AOC CALTON LTD$18.4M1.1%

Spending by fiscal year

37.1MFY2017
33.1MFY2018
60.1MFY2019
812.7MFY2020
-179.8MFY2021
-417.8MFY2022
53.6MFY2023
345.2M

Top industries (NAICS)

Nonresidential building construction · 2362$1.6B95%
Highway, street, and bridge construction · 2373$16M0.9%
Other heavy and civil engineering construction · 2379$14.2M0.8%
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$11.9M0.7%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$10.7M0.6%
Facilities support services · 5612$10.1M

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Laredo, Texas

LRT-3 VERTICAL BARRIER CONSTRUCTION PROJECT$523.9M
SOUTHWEST VALLEY CONSTRUCTORS CO· Webb County, TX· Construction & real property· Mar 5, 2026 – Mar 13, 2026· 70B01C26F00000138
BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION- VERTICAL BARRIER, LAREDO TEXAS SECTOR, LRT-4$512.3M
GRANITE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY· Webb County, TX· Construction & real property· Mar 9, 2026 – Mar 9, 2026· 70B01C26F00000165
THIS TASK ORDER IS FOR A DESIGN BUILD PROJECT IN LAREDO, TX$332M
CLARK CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC· Webb County, TX· Construction & real property· Sep 26, 2026 – Sep 26, 2026· 70B01C26F00000874
DESIGN-BUILD ONE 1,000-PERSON JOINT PROCESSING CENTER (JPC) IN LAREDO, TX

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 Laredo, Texas, so they do not add up across cities.

Laredo, Texas's figures are part of those of Webb County, TX ($2B in FY2026), never added to them: 88% of that total.

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

See federal money in Webb 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.

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

House

Henry CuellarD-TX-28 · 100% of residentsWith party 65%Missed 1.3%

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.

Webb County13100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Laredo, TX10

Other cities and towns in Webb 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/4841464

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends