Town · Hunt County, Texas

Poetry, Texas

Poetry is a town in Hunt County, Texas, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area. It has 1,642 residents. Poetry, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 13 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,612 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #659 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on poverty rate (low), median Air Quality Index (low) and job growth (high). It ranks worst on uninsured residents (under 65) (high), firearm deaths (high) and restaurants and bars (low).

13Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,612 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #659 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 1,642 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 405.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 4858502

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 66 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.

Safety23#12,063/15,637
Economy75#3,900/15,631
Housing26#11,022/14,977
Health—
Healthcare2#15,379/15,650
Environment54#7,057/15,453
Education24#11,940/15,649
Infrastructure17#12,921/15,650
Community13#13,599/15,651
Leisure & amenities2#15,269/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Poverty rate · low2.7%
94/100Texas 13.4%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Median Air Quality Index · low34
88/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHunt County value
Job growth · high1.4%
83/100Texas 0.6%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataHunt County value
High ozone days · low0 days
76/100Texas 7 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHunt County value
Natural hazard risk · low17.0
74/100Texas 39.62025Federal Emergency Management AgencyHunt County value
Median household income · high$95,357
72/100Texas $79,723United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013

Weaknesses

Uninsured residents (under 65) · high30.9%
3/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Firearm deaths · high26.5 /100k
4/100Texas 13.7 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataHunt County value
Restaurants and bars · low4.3 /10k
6/100Texas 7.8 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHunt County value
Primary care physicians · low24 /100k
7/100Texas 61 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteHunt County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,085 /100k
8/100Texas 2,991 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteHunt County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Texas 3.4United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesHunt County value

Trends

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

No large change over the last five years in the published series.

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.

There is not enough history to compare Poetry, Texas over five years.

Cities and towns like Poetry, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Poetry, 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.

No place that looked like Poetry, Texas five years ago has more measures that improved than declined, with a higher standing among its peers today.

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

1,642 residents (±546)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

1,642 residents (±546)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

White91%†1,495
Black0.3%†5
Hispanic or Latino5.2%†86

Education

1,057 residents (±230)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

No high school diploma0.9%†9
High school or GED34%†360
Some college25%†259

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

508 households (±116)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k7.5%†38
$25k–50k16%†82
$50k–75k12%†61
$75k–100k16%†82
$100k–150k19%†99
$150k–200k21%†107
$200k or more7.7%†39

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

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

Owners and renters

508 households (±116)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

Own96%487
Rent4.1%†21

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

17 households (±20)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

Under $75018%†3
$750–1,0000.0%0
$1,000–1,5000.0%0

Home values

487 homes (±112)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

Under $150k11%†52
$150k–250k23%†112
$250k–400k19%†91

Age of homes

519 homes (±116)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

2010 or later10%†54
2000–200912%†60
1980–199950%†257

Size of homes

519 homes (±116)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

Studio1.2%†6
1 bedroom1.3%†7
2 bedrooms15%†80

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

753 workers (±263)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone71%†533
Carpool3.1%†23
Public transit0.0%0
Walk0.4%†3
Bike0.8%†6
Work from home25%†188
Other0.0%0

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

565 workers (±174)

Poetry, Texas
Texas share

Under 15 min31%†176
15–29 min20%†114
30–44 min21%†116

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, 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 Hunt County, the county holding most of Poetry's residents.

Hunt County has 1,854 employer establishments, 163 for every 10,000 residents (0.66× the US rate of 248; 0.75× Texas's), with 27,606 paid employees at an average annual pay of $63,773. The Census Bureau also counts 10,588 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,854; 10,588 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 163; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 27,606
Average annual pay: $63,773; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	190	16.7	1.08×About typical	1,190	$61,192	1,441
Ambulatory health care services	143	12.6	0.60×Fewer than typical	1,416	$53,876	291
Restaurants and other eating places	132	11.6	0.63×Fewer than typical	2,757	$20,386	49
Building equipment contractors	96	8.4	1.40×More than typical	542	$61,194	367
Religious organizations	93	8.2	1.47×More than typical	428	$22,748	—
Lessors of real estate	74	6.5	0.53×Fewer than typical	171	$37,947	604
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors	68	6	1.81×More than typical	415	$60,766	190
Limited-service restaurants	65	5.7	0.71×Fewer than typical	1,697	$18,279	15
Construction of buildings	64	5.6	0.74×Fewer than typical	316	$61,304	673
Gasoline stations	53	4.7	1.44×More than typical	349	$27,662	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	48	4.2	0.84×About typical	334	$43,671	260
Full-service restaurants	48	4.2	0.55×Fewer than typical	932	$24,120	29

Rank places for an industry Open Hunt County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 113,819 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

No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.

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

See federal money in Hunt 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.

Poetry, Texas is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).