City · Collin County, Texas

Princeton, Texas

Princeton is a city in Collin County, Texas, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area. It has 25,229 residents. Princeton, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 71 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,487 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #31 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on new homes permitted (high), child care cost burden (low) and injury deaths (low). It ranks worst on public libraries (low), days with unhealthy air (high) and average commute time (high).

71High

Quality-of-life score: #4,487 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #31 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 25,229 (2020-2024)
Land area: 14 mi²
Density: 1,749.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 4859576

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.

Safety87#1,994/15,637
Economy98#259/15,631
Housing63#5,600/14,977
Health78#3,367/15,609
Healthcare68#4,994/15,650
Environment11#13,730/15,453
Education66#5,274/15,649
Infrastructure54#7,194/15,650
Community48#8,143/15,651
Leisure & amenities44#8,778/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

New homes permitted · high65.8 /1k
99/100Texas 6.3 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Child care cost burden · low16.4%
99/100Texas 24.5%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCollin County value
Injury deaths · low43 /100k
99/100Texas 69 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCollin County value
Math scores · high3.59
99/100Texas 3.15United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCollin County value
Premature death · low4,479 /100k
96/100Texas 7,960 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCollin County value
Average weekly wage · high$1,767
95/100Texas $1,499United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCollin County value

Weaknesses

Public libraries · low0.1 /10k
1/100Texas 0.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesCollin County value
Days with unhealthy air · high6.4%
7/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCollin County value
Average commute time · high32.2 min
10/100Texas 26.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high16.9%
10/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
High ozone days · high7 days
12/100Texas 7 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCollin County value
Hot days · high92 days
12/100Texas 111 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationCollin County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
10,846 (2015-2019) → 25,229 (2020-2024)
+133%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
73.5% (2015-2019) → 95.1% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$67,204 (2015-2019) → $105,200 (2020-2024)
+57%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateImproving
10.2% (2015-2019) → 3.9% (2020-2024)
−6.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateImproving
9.0% (2015-2019) → 4.1% (2020-2024)
−4.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
New homes permittedImproving
54.9 /1k (2021) → 65.8 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+20%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k

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, Princeton, Texas improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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.

Improved3

Broadband+22 points73.5% → 95.1%
Household income+57%$67,204 → $105,200
Poverty−4.9 points9.0% → 4.1%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Princeton, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	33.4 min2015-2019	32.2 min2020-2024	−1.2 min	Within the margin of error	62%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.2%2015-2019	28.6%2020-2024	+3.4 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Broadband subscriptions	73.5%2015-2019	95.1%2020-2024	+22 points	Improved	92%
Effective property tax rate	1.75%2015-2019	1.41%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	79%
High school diploma or higher	89.3%2015-2019	91.1%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.1×2020-2024	+0.4×	Within the margin of error	55%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4022015-2019	0.3472020-2024	−0.055	Within the margin of error	86%
Median household income	$67,2042015-2019	$105,2002020-2024	+57%	Improved	89%
Poverty rate	9.0%2015-2019	4.1%2020-2024	−4.9 points	Improved	80%
Rent as share of income	23.7%2015-2019	26.7%2020-2024	+3 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Rent-burdened households	41.6%2015-2019	41.8%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Unemployment rate	4.1%2015-2019	2.5%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Within the margin of error	77%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.2%2015-2019	16.9%2020-2024	+2.6 points	Within the margin of error	21%

“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 Princeton, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Princeton, 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, Princeton, Texas itself moved +8.8 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

25,229 residents (±52)

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

7,873 households (±410)

Princeton, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k5.2%†411
$25k–50k12%†966
$50k–75k12%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

7,873 households (±410)

Princeton, Texas
Texas share

Own76%5,961
Rent24%1,912

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+8.6 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

13,274 workers (±657)

Princeton, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone67%8,845
Carpool16%†2,100
Public transit0.1%†17

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 Collin County, the county holding most of Princeton's residents.

Collin County has 31,012 employer establishments, 257 for every 10,000 residents (1.03× the US rate of 248; 1.18× Texas's), with 528,596 paid employees at an average annual pay of $80,684. The Census Bureau also counts 145,051 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 31,012; 145,051 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 257; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 528,596
Average annual pay: $80,684; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	3,995	33.1	1.59×More than typical	39,645	$65,863	6,488
Restaurants and other eating places	2,433	20.2	1.10×About typical	48,403	$24,498	792
Computer systems design and related services	2,418	20	4.63×More than typical	31,174	$128,408	3,838
Lessors of real estate	1,790	14.8	1.20×About typical	9,600	$74,762	15,336
Offices of physicians	1,554	12.9	1.99×More than typical	10,511	$101,469	1,530
Management, scientific and technical consulting	1,498	12.4	1.85×More than typical	6,156	$96,587	8,126
Specialty trade contractors	1,165	9.6	0.62×Fewer than typical	14,051	$70,999	6,059
Limited-service restaurants	1,078	8.9	1.11×About typical	21,582	$20,892	296
Offices of other health practitioners	997	8.3	1.36×More than typical	11,558	$49,619	2,684
Full-service restaurants	975	8.1	1.05×About typical	22,542	$29,257	358
Real estate agents and brokers	806	6.7	1.37×More than typical	3,405	$83,741	5,127
Offices of dentists	802	6.6	1.65×More than typical	6,020	$61,000	465

Rank places for an industry Open Collin County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 1,207,386 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 Princeton, 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

760.5KFY2017
803KFY2018
813.6KFY2019
893.7KFY2020
941.7KFY2021
773KFY2022
382.5KFY2023
107KFY2024

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

Princeton, Texas's figures are part of those of Collin County, TX ($1.3B 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: Princeton is mostly in Collin County.

See federal money in Collin 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.

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

House

Senate

Ted CruzR-

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Collin County84100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX52

Other cities and towns in Collin 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/4859576

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends