City · Lubbock County, Texas

Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock is a city in Lubbock County, Texas, part of the Lubbock, TX metro area. It has 264,814 residents. Lubbock, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 21 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,318 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #482 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on median Air Quality Index (low), average commute time (low) and distance to an emergency room (low). It ranks worst on distance to an Amtrak station (high), violent crime rate (high) and income inequality (Gini index) (high).

21Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,318 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #482 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 264,814 (2020-2024)
Land area: 143 mi²
Density: 1,849.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 4845000

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.

Safety7#14,539/15,637
Economy22#12,152/15,631
Housing22#11,709/14,977
Health33#10,502/15,609
Healthcare36#10,008/15,650
Environment56#6,821/15,453
Education51#7,740/15,649
Infrastructure53#7,279/15,650
Community14#13,529/15,651
Leisure & amenities40#9,327/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Median Air Quality Index · low24
97/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyLubbock County value
Average commute time · low16.3 min
97/100Texas 26.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Distance to an emergency room · low3.1 mi
91/100Texas 5.5 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLubbock County value
Distance to an airport · low10 mi
91/100Texas 33 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauLubbock County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low6.2 µg/m³
86/100Texas 8.9 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyLubbock County value
New homes permitted · high7.4 /1k
83/100Texas 6.3 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data

Weaknesses

Distance to an Amtrak station · high234 mi
2/100Texas 43 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauLubbock County value
Violent crime rate · high619 /100k
4/100Texas 345 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationLubbock County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.489
8/100Texas 0.478United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Voter turnout · low54.0%
9/100Texas 57.8%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionLubbock County value
Property crime rate · high2,205 /100k
10/100Texas 1,786 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationLubbock County value
Hot days · high95 days
11/100Texas 111 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationLubbock County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
79.8% (2015-2019) → 88.8% (2020-2024)
+9.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
12.3 /1k (2021) → 7.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−40%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.8× (2015-2019) → 3.5× (2020-2024)
+25%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Median household incomeImproving
$50,453 (2015-2019) → $60,895 (2020-2024)
+21%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
31.5% (2015-2019) → 35.1% (2020-2024)
+3.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
High school diploma or higherImproving
86.5% (2015-2019) → 89.4% (2020-2024)
+2.8 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, Lubbock, Texas improved on 4 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 7 moved within the margin of error and 2 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

High school++2.8 points86.5% → 89.4%
Bachelor's++3.6 points31.5% → 35.1%
Broadband+9.1 points79.8% → 88.8%
Household income+21%$50,453 → $60,895

Declined2

Unemployment+1.5 points3.7% → 5.2%
Price / income+0.7×2.8× → 3.5×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Lubbock, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	16.6 min2015-2019	16.3 min2020-2024	−0.3 min	Within the margin of error	51%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.5%2015-2019	35.1%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Improved	56%
Broadband subscriptions	79.8%2015-2019	88.8%2020-2024	+9.1 points	Improved	55%
Child poverty rate	22.0%2015-2019	20.1%2020-2024	−1.9 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Effective property tax rate	1.80%2015-2019	1.53%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	70%
High school diploma or higher	86.5%2015-2019	89.4%2020-2024	+2.8 points	Improved	67%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	+0.7×	Declined	36%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4832015-2019	0.4892020-2024	+0.006	Within the margin of error	45%
Median household income	$50,4532015-2019	$60,8952020-2024	+21%	Improved	34%
Poverty rate	20.1%2015-2019	18.9%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Public transit commuters	1.0%2015-2019	0.7%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	22%
Rent as share of income	33.0%2015-2019	33.1%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	54%
Rent-burdened households	55.8%2015-2019	55.7%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Unemployment rate	3.7%2015-2019	5.2%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Declined	22%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.7%2015-2019	15.5%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	37%

“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 Lubbock, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lubbock, 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, Lubbock, Texas itself moved −0.6 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

264,814 residents (±47)

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

107,086 households (±1,155)

Lubbock, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k21%22,144
$25k–50k21%22,854
$50k–75k16%17,505

Homes

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

Owners and renters

107,086 households (±1,155)

Lubbock, Texas
Texas share

Own51%54,816
Rent49%52,270

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

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

131,071 workers (±2,161)

Lubbock, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone77%101,265
Carpool11%14,768
Public transit0.7%†855

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 Lubbock, 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 Lubbock County, the county holding most of Lubbock's residents.

Lubbock County has 8,019 employer establishments, 249 for every 10,000 residents (1.00× the US rate of 248; 1.14× Texas's), with 124,049 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,771. The Census Bureau also counts 28,401 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 8,019; 28,401 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 249; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 124,049
Average annual pay: $47,771; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	698	21.7	1.04×About typical	9,590	$63,612	1,245
Restaurants and other eating places	630	19.6	1.07×About typical	16,289	$19,734	108
Specialty trade contractors	547	17	1.10×About typical	4,867	$58,435	2,586
Lessors of real estate	458	14.2	1.16×About typical	1,725	$49,051	3,091
Limited-service restaurants	314	9.8	1.22×About typical	8,121	$19,193	40
Offices of physicians	280	8.7	1.35×More than typical	3,856	$90,609	326
Building equipment contractors	251	7.8	1.30×More than typical	2,686	$58,757	425
Construction of buildings	243	7.6	1.00×About typical	1,697	$73,229	936
Automotive repair and maintenance	213	6.6	1.32×More than typical	1,863	$44,640	487
Full-service restaurants	213	6.6	0.86×About typical	6,596	$21,350	39
Insurance agencies and brokerages	206	6.4	1.46×More than typical	1,047	$67,477	591
Religious organizations	186	5.8	1.04×About typical	2,328	$23,844	—

Rank places for an industry Open Lubbock County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 321,411 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 $4M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Lubbock, Texas: $15.17 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $4M; −27% vs FY2025
Per resident: $15.17; US $1,994
Sole-source: 9.1%; US 30%
Single offer: 3.3%; 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

Federal Aviation Administration$1.1M26%
Public Buildings Service$962.2K24%
Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$905.9K23%
Department of Veterans Affairs$382.7K9.5%
Agricultural Research Service$178.5K4.4%
Agricultural Marketing Service$148.8K3.7%
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service$128.6K3.2%
Defense Logistics Agency$109.1K2.7%

Top recipients

DISMAS CHARITIES INC$905.9K23%
WEIL CONSTRUCTION INC$749.8K19%
AMSTAR INC$460.2K11%
HARTMAN AND MAJEWSKI DESIGN GROUP, INC.$335.5K8.4%
TEXAS TECH PHYSICIANS ASSOCIATES$293.4K7.3%

Spending by fiscal year

2.7MFY2017
4.2MFY2018
15.4MFY2019
18.5MFY2020
15.7MFY2021
6.6MFY2022
21.7MFY2023
10.2M

Top industries (NAICS)

Nonresidential building construction · 2362$1.4M34%
Other residential care facilities · 6239$905.9K23%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$350.5K8.7%
Colleges, universities, and professional schools · 6113$306.5K7.6%
Semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing · 3344$175.3K4.4%
Other food manufacturing · 3119

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Lubbock, Texas

REPLACE BOILERS GEORGE MAHON FEDERAL BUILDING 1205 TEXAS AVE. LUBBOCK, TX 79401$460.2K
AMSTAR INC· Lubbock County, TX· Construction & real property· Aug 24, 2026 – Aug 24, 2026· 47PD5226F0441
OY4 TASK ORDER - DERMATOLOGY PHYSICIAN SERVICES FOR THE AMARILLO VETERANS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM AT THE LUBBOCK, TEXAS, OUTPATIENT CLINIC.$412.1K
TEXAS TECH PHYSICIANS ASSOCIATES· Lubbock County, TX· Health & medical· Oct 1, 2025 – Oct 1, 2025· 36C25726N0018
ROOF, WINDOW, DDC DESIGN G.H. MAHON FEDERAL BUILDING 1205 TEXAS AVE., LUBBOCK, TX 79401$335.5K
HARTMAN AND MAJEWSKI DESIGN GROUP, INC.· Lubbock County, TX· Construction & real property· Sep 3, 2026 – Sep 3, 2026· 47PD5226F0475

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

Lubbock, Texas's figures are part of those of Lubbock County, TX ($21.3M in FY2026), never added to them: 19% of that total.

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

See federal money in Lubbock 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.

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

House

Jodey C. ArringtonR-TX-19 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 3.3%

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.

Lubbock County41100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Lubbock, TX37

Other cities and towns in Lubbock 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/4845000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends