City · Matagorda County, Texas

Palacios, Texas

Palacios is a city in Matagorda County, Texas, part of the Bay City, TX metro area. It has 4,388 residents. Palacios, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 5 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,919 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #911 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on hospital quality rating (high), time spent in the emergency room (low) and public transit commuters (high). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), rent as share of income (high) and food environment index (low).

5Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,919 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #911 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 4,388 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 804.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 4854684

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety12#13,734/15,637
Economy36#10,068/15,631
Housing17#12,391/14,977
Health30#10,985/15,609
Healthcare3#15,243/15,650
Environment9#14,009/15,453
Education14#13,426/15,649
Infrastructure18#12,796/15,650
Community26#11,645/15,651
Leisure & amenities31#10,831/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Hospital quality rating · high5.0
98/100Texas 3.4United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesMatagorda County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low95 min
97/100Texas 149 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesMatagorda County value
Public transit commuters · high7.0%
95/100Texas 0.9%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301High uncertainty
Comfortable days · high34.3%
94/100Texas 30.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationMatagorda County value
Job growth · high2.4%
91/100Texas 0.6%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataMatagorda County value
Unemployment rate · low1.3%
90/100Texas 4.2%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high33.0 /100k
2/100Texas 14.4 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMatagorda County value
Rent as share of income · high51.0%
2/100Texas 30.9%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071At least this value: the publisher's top bracket is open-ended
Food environment index · low5.5
2/100Texas 5.7United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMatagorda County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high25.9%
3/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Primary care shortage · high19.0
3/100Texas 5.5United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationMatagorda County value
Dental care shortage · high19.0
3/100Texas 5.8United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationMatagorda County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
37.4% (2015-2019) → 89.6% (2020-2024)
+52 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
27.2% (2015-2019) → 51.0% (2020-2024)
+24 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Child poverty rateImproving
40.9% (2015-2019) → 19.1% (2020-2024)
−22 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
High school diploma or higherWorsening
78.1% (2015-2019) → 60.1% (2020-2024)
−18 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
New homes permittedWorsening
6.7 /1k (2021) → 2.1 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−70%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
69.7% (2015-2019) → 78.2% (2020-2024)
+8.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

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, Palacios, Texas improved on 0 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 10 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.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined2

Rent burden+52 points37.4% → 89.6%
Rent / income+24 points27.2% → 51.0%

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Palacios, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	16.6 min2015-2019	23.6 min2020-2024	+7.0 min	Within the margin of error	5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.3%2015-2019	22.8%2020-2024	+8.5 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Broadband subscriptions	69.7%2015-2019	78.2%2020-2024	+8.5 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Effective property tax rate	1.57%2015-2019	1.44%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	42%
High school diploma or higher	78.1%2015-2019	60.1%2020-2024	−18 points	Within the margin of error	0%
Home price to income ratio	2.9×2015-2019	2.9×2020-2024	−0.0×	Within the margin of error	79%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4322015-2019	0.4202020-2024	−0.012	Within the margin of error	62%
Median household income	$38,1402015-2019	$52,6202020-2024	+38%	Within the margin of error	71%
Poverty rate	24.1%2015-2019	19.2%2020-2024	−4.8 points	Within the margin of error	80%
Rent as share of income	27.2%2015-2019	51.0%2020-2024	+24 points	Declined	1%
Rent-burdened households	37.4%2015-2019	89.6%2020-2024	+52 points	Declined	0%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	32.7%2015-2019	25.9%2020-2024	−6.9 points	Within the margin of error	92%

“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 Palacios, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Palacios, 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, Palacios, Texas itself moved −14.6 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

4,388 residents (±16)

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

1,861 households (±246)

Palacios, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k28%†515
$25k–50k22%†407
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,861 households (±246)

Palacios, Texas
Texas share

Own84%1,563
Rent16%†298

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Rent (−16.3 points).

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

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

1,808 workers (±375)

Palacios, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone83%1,508
Carpool9.6%†173
Public transit7.0%†127

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 Bay City, 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 Matagorda County, the county holding most of Palacios's residents.

Matagorda County has 707 employer establishments, 195 for every 10,000 residents (0.79× the US rate of 248; 0.89× Texas's), with 7,870 paid employees at an average annual pay of $70,810. The Census Bureau also counts 3,476 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 707; 3,476 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 195; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 7,870
Average annual pay: $70,810; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	67	18.5	0.89×About typical	483	$52,447	134
Restaurants and other eating places	57	15.7	0.86×About typical	791	$20,314	37
Religious organizations	34	9.4	1.69×More than typical	198	$19,510	—
Full-service restaurants	31	8.6	1.11×About typical	385	$21,990	18
Offices of physicians	27	7.4	1.15×About typical	165	$65,691	13
Gasoline stations	24	6.6	2.04×More than typical	170	$23,071	—
Traveler accommodation	23	6.3	3.52×More than typical	139	$20,029	14
Specialty trade contractors	22	6.1	0.39×Fewer than typical	119	$51,580	425
Limited-service restaurants	20	5.5	0.69×Fewer than typical	338	$18,947	8
Lessors of real estate	19	5.2	0.43×Fewer than typical	55	$42,327	212
Automotive repair and maintenance	15	4.1	0.82×About typical	51	$44,373	59
Banks and credit unions	14	3.9	1.20×About typical	88	$44,330	—

Rank places for an industry Open Matagorda County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 36,252 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 Palacios, Texas: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
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

1.9KFY2017
60.9FY2019
240.8KFY2020
-6.4KFY2021

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

Palacios, Texas's figures are part of those of Matagorda County, TX ($86.3M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in Matagorda 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.

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

House

Troy E. NehlsR-TX-22 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 7.3%

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.

Matagorda County12100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Bay City, TX10

Other cities and towns in Matagorda 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/4854684

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends