City · Hockley County, Texas

Sundown, Texas

Sundown is a city in Hockley County, Texas, part of the Lubbock, TX metro area. It has 1,374 residents. Sundown, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 13 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,579 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #656 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on time spent in the emergency room (low), home price to income ratio (low) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low). It ranks worst on job growth (low), distance to an Amtrak station (high) and unemployment rate (high).

13Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,579 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #656 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 1,374 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 903.9 /mi²
FIPS code: 4871060

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 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.

Safety24#11,903/15,637
Economy21#12,371/15,631
Housing50#7,507/14,977
Health28#11,261/15,609
Healthcare9#14,195/15,650
Environment60#6,120/15,453
Education31#10,750/15,649
Infrastructure26#11,520/15,650
Community13#13,622/15,651
Leisure & amenities3#15,177/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Time spent in the emergency room · low93 min
98/100Texas 149 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesHockley County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.6×
94/100Texas 3.6×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077High uncertainty
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low6.1 µg/m³
88/100Texas 8.9 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyHockley County value
Students per teacher · low11.7×
88/100Texas 15.0×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsHockley County value
Comfortable days · high31.5%
85/100Texas 30.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationHockley County value
Property crime rate · low683 /100k
77/100Texas 1,786 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureHockley County value

Weaknesses

Job growth · low-5.0%
2/100Texas 0.6%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataHockley County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high215 mi
2/100Texas 43 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauHockley County value
Unemployment rate · high14.2%
3/100Texas 4.2%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Texas 4.0 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyHockley County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high22.5%
4/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Traffic deaths · high34.6 /100k
5/100Texas 14.1 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataHockley County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
1,249 (2015-2019) → 1,374 (2020-2024)
+10%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
7.0% (2015-2019) → 28.9% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
76.3% (2015-2019) → 90.5% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
25.7% (2015-2019) → 38.1% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
15.7% (2015-2019) → 25.3% (2020-2024)
+9.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Unemployment rateWorsening
4.8% (2015-2019) → 14.2% (2020-2024)
+9.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

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, Sundown, Texas improved on 2 of 8 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 6 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.

Improved2

Bachelor's++9.6 points15.7% → 25.3%
Broadband+14 points76.3% → 90.5%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 8 measures

Change of every measure of Sundown, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.9 min2015-2019	21.4 min2020-2024	+1.5 min	Within the margin of error	31%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%2015-2019	25.3%2020-2024	+9.6 points	Improved	89%
Broadband subscriptions	76.3%2015-2019	90.5%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	77%
Effective property tax rate	1.68%2015-2019	1.59%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	33%
High school diploma or higher	75.4%2015-2019	83.7%2020-2024	+8.3 points	Within the margin of error	92%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4052015-2019	0.4402020-2024	+0.035	Within the margin of error	24%
Poverty rate	12.0%2015-2019	14.6%2020-2024	+2.6 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	28.0%2015-2019	22.5%2020-2024	−5.4 points	Within the margin of error	88%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 10944 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 Sundown, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sundown, 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, Sundown, Texas itself moved +1.1 points in standing on average over the same 6 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

1,374 residents (±195)

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

494 households (±72)

Sundown, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k20%†101
$25k–50k23%†115
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

494 households (±72)

Sundown, Texas
Texas share

Own74%366
Rent26%†128

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

† 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

601 workers (±124)

Sundown, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone81%484
Carpool12%†70
Public transit0.0%0

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 Hockley County, the county holding most of Sundown's residents.

Hockley County has 477 employer establishments, 223 for every 10,000 residents (0.90× the US rate of 248; 1.02× Texas's), with 6,330 paid employees at an average annual pay of $61,394. The Census Bureau also counts 1,658 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 477; 1,658 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 223; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 6,330
Average annual pay: $61,394; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	29	13.6	0.74×Fewer than typical	594	$16,365	4
Specialty trade contractors	25	11.7	0.76×Fewer than typical	214	$57,575	188
Religious organizations	23	10.8	1.94×More than typical	101	$17,881	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	18	8.4	1.92×More than typical	40	$34,500	26
Ambulatory health care services	14	6.6	0.31×Fewer than typical	152	$48,474	43
Building equipment contractors	14	6.6	1.09×About typical	158	$57,924	41
Full-service restaurants	13	6.1	0.79×Fewer than typical	256	$15,855	—
Gasoline stations	12	5.6	1.73×More than typical	110	$17,773	—
Lessors of real estate	12	5.6	0.46×Fewer than typical	30	$27,733	104
Limited-service restaurants	11	5.2	0.64×Fewer than typical	324	$16,944	—
Truck transportation	11	5.2	1.02×About typical	186	$80,156	68
Clothing and accessories stores	10	4.7	1.29×More than typical	34	$23,118	17

Rank places for an industry Open Hockley County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 21,343 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: Sundown is mostly in Hockley County.

See federal money in Hockley 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.

Sundown, 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.

Hockley County22100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Lubbock, TX37

Other cities and towns in Hockley 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/4871060

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends