City · Dallas County, Texas

Wilmer, Texas

Wilmer is a city in Dallas County, Texas, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro area. It has 6,391 residents. Wilmer, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 16 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,144 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #591 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), new homes permitted (high) and average weekly wage (high). It ranks worst on uninsured residents (under 65) (high), physical inactivity (high) and unemployment rate (high).

16Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,144 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #591 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 6,391 (2020-2024)
Land area: 12 mi²
Density: 522.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 4879576

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.

Safety15#13,293/15,637
Economy25#11,695/15,631
Housing70#4,536/14,977
Health31#10,742/15,609
Healthcare49#7,903/15,650
Environment6#14,565/15,453
Education14#13,481/15,649
Infrastructure17#12,983/15,650
Community21#12,420/15,651
Leisure & amenities53#7,396/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Effective property tax rate · low0.23%
99/100Texas 1.40%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090High uncertainty
New homes permitted · high27.1 /1k
97/100Texas 6.3 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Average weekly wage · high$1,780
96/100Texas $1,499United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsDallas County value
New business applications · high22.9 /1k
94/100Texas 17.2 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauDallas County value
Distance to an emergency room · low3.2 mi
90/100Texas 5.5 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesDallas County value
Distance to an airport · low10 mi
89/100Texas 33 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauDallas County value

Weaknesses

Uninsured residents (under 65) · high27.6%
3/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Physical inactivity · high39.8%
3/100Texas 29.6%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Unemployment rate · high14.4%
3/100Texas 4.2%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Lack of reliable transportation · high18.2%
4/100Texas 10.5%United States 8.3%2022Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Food insecurity · high35.6%
4/100Texas 19.4%United States 15.6%2022Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Poor or fair health · high31.7%
5/100Texas 23.2%United States 19.9%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

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

PopulationRising
4,383 (2015-2019) → 6,391 (2020-2024)
+46%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.2× (2015-2019) → 2.6× (2020-2024)
+117%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
64.7% (2015-2019) → 86.9% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateWorsening
41.7% (2015-2019) → 55.6% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
High school diploma or higherWorsening
71.1% (2015-2019) → 58.1% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Unemployment rateWorsening
3.3% (2015-2019) → 14.4% (2020-2024)
+11 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, Wilmer, Texas improved on 1 of 9 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 8 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.

Improved1

Broadband+22 points64.7% → 86.9%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 9 measures

Change of every measure of Wilmer, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	27.7 min2015-2019	33.4 min2020-2024	+5.7 min	Within the margin of error	8%
Broadband subscriptions	64.7%2015-2019	86.9%2020-2024	+22 points	Improved	93%
Child poverty rate	41.7%2015-2019	55.6%2020-2024	+14 points	Within the margin of error	8%
High school diploma or higher	71.1%2015-2019	58.1%2020-2024	−13 points	Within the margin of error	1%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3322015-2019	0.3932020-2024	+0.060	Within the margin of error	13%
Median household income	$46,7652015-2019	$59,6262020-2024	+28%	Within the margin of error	50%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent-burdened households	36.2%2015-2019	39.4%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	30.4%2015-2019	27.6%2020-2024	−2.8 points	Within the margin of error	75%

“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 Wilmer, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Wilmer, 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, Wilmer, Texas itself moved −6.7 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

6,391 residents (±15)

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

1,815 households (±365)

Wilmer, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k8.3%†151
$25k–50k21%†375
$50k–75k34%

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,815 households (±365)

Wilmer, Texas
Texas share

Own58%1,061
Rent42%†754

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

2,234 workers (±655)

Wilmer, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone89%†1,988
Carpool4.8%†108
Public transit0.0%

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 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 Dallas County, the county holding most of Wilmer's residents.

Dallas County has 71,182 employer establishments, 270 for every 10,000 residents (1.09× the US rate of 248; 1.24× Texas's), with 1,648,702 paid employees at an average annual pay of $80,015. The Census Bureau also counts 312,744 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 71,182; 312,744 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 270; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 1,648,702
Average annual pay: $80,015; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	6,867	26	1.25×About typical	94,638	$71,707	11,541
Restaurants and other eating places	5,390	20.4	1.11×About typical	110,804	$26,252	2,027
Lessors of real estate	4,048	15.3	1.25×About typical	37,117	$93,374	26,231
Specialty trade contractors	3,139	11.9	0.77×Fewer than typical	61,980	$72,103	24,766
Limited-service restaurants	2,514	9.5	1.19×About typical	51,478	$22,111	597
Offices of physicians	2,412	9.1	1.41×More than typical	24,101	$135,732	2,303
Legal services	2,360	8.9	1.66×More than typical	20,305	$160,257	2,888
Computer systems design and related services	2,293	8.7	2.01×More than typical	48,458	$123,287	2,893
Management, scientific and technical consulting	2,266	8.6	1.28×More than typical	34,193	$123,075	10,028
Full-service restaurants	2,092	7.9	1.03×About typical	51,472	$30,947	986
Construction of buildings	1,485	5.6	0.74×Fewer than typical	23,873	$126,571	10,676
Offices of dentists	1,476	5.6	1.39×More than typical	10,757	$54,647	807

Rank places for an industry Open Dallas County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 2,637,393 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 $1,767 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Wilmer, Texas: $0.28 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1,767; −51% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.28; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Defense Logistics Agency$1,767100%

Top recipients

AEROFORCE LOGISTICS LLC$1,767100%
DMS-SOUTH/BAILEY TOOL LLC$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

-3.4KFY2017
302.8FY2018
100.6KFY2019
23.4KFY2020
15.2KFY2021
1.8KFY2022
-33.1KFY2023
1.1KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$1,767100%

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

Wilmer, Texas's figures are part of those of Dallas County, TX ($27.2B 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: Wilmer is mostly in Dallas County.

See federal money in Dallas 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.

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

House

County

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

Dallas County43100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX52

Other cities and towns in Dallas 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/4879576

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends