Borden County, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 45 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #1,733 of 3,143 US counties. Within Texas it ranks #61 of 254 counties. It ranks best on rent as share of income (low), income adjusted for local prices (high) and effective property tax rate (low). It ranks worst on mental health providers (low), public libraries (low) and restaurants and bars (low).
45Moderate
Quality-of-life score
#1,733 of 3,143 counties
Texas
#61 of 254 in TX
Population
567 (2025)
Land area
897 mi²
Density
0.6 /mi²
FIPS code
48033
Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 67 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.
The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.
PopulationFalling
643 (2020) → 567 (2025)
−12%5 yearsUS 331,578,104 → 341,784,857
Job growthWorsening
46.6% (2021) → -3.5% (2026 Q1)
−50 pts5 yearsUS 3.4% → 0.1%
Some collegeWorsening
79.9% (2016-2020) → 59.3% (2019-2023)
−21 pts3 yearsUS 66.9% → 67.8%
Flu vaccinationsWorsening
37.0% (2019) → 19.0% (2023)
−18 pts4 yearsUS 48.0% → 44.0%
Average weekly wageImproving
$850 (2020) → $1,596 (2025)
+88%5 yearsUS $1,231 → $1,514
Income adjusted for local pricesImproving
$86,265 (2019) → $154,913 (2024)
+80%5 yearsUS $55,567 → $73,204
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.
Counties like Borden County, Texas five years ago that improved
The places whose measures looked most like those of Borden County, 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.
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).
Income
How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.
Homes
Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.
Getting to work
How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.
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.
Federal contract spending
Federal grants & assistance
Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.
Public money & outcomes
Federal money per resident by fiscal year next to how the place changed, and, when its money jumped, how it compares with similar counties. A comparison, not cause and effect.
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.
Cities and towns in Borden County
Places whose residents live mostly in Borden County, largest first.
Distance to airports and intercity railFederal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census Bureau · release 2025+amtrak-2026-04-23
Over about five years, Borden County, Texas improved on 5 of 19 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 10 moved within the margin of error and 2 barely changed.
Earlier period
Latest period
Lower standingHigher standing
Position is the place's standing among counties: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts. Periods differ by measure (most compare 2015-2019 with 2020-2024); each row names its own in its tooltip and in the table.
Improved5
Weekly wage+88%$850 → $1,596
Average weekly wage
$850 → $1,5962020 → 2025
+88%No margin of error published
Standing among counties: 56 → 97 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 99% of counties
Real income+80%$86,265 → $154,913
Income adjusted for local prices
$86,265 → $154,9132019 → 2024
+80%No margin of error published
Standing among counties: 99 → 99 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 99% of counties
Rent / income−9.9 points18.9% → 9.0%
Rent as share of income
18.9% → 9.0%2015-2019 → 2020-2024
−9.9 pointsNo margin of error published
Standing among counties: 97 → 100 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 98% of counties
Household income+34%$71,926 → $96,586
Median household income
$71,926 → $96,5862019 → 2024
+34%Beyond the margin of error (±$14,681)
Standing among counties: 89 → 93 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
More favourable than 88% of counties
Unemployment−2 points5.3% → 3.3%
Unemployment rate
5.3% → 3.3%2020 → 2025
−2 pointsNo margin of error published
Standing among counties: 76 → 78 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
Less favourable than 65% of counties
Declined2
Inequality+0.1340.392 → 0.526
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.392 → 0.5262015-2019 → 2020-2024
+0.134Beyond the margin of error (±0.113)
Standing among counties: 95 → 2 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
Less favourable than 99% of counties
New businesses−15%12.4 /1k → 10.6 /1k
New business applications
12.4 /1k → 10.6 /1k2020 → 2025
−15%No margin of error published
Standing among counties: 83 → 42 (0 lowest, 100 highest)
Less favourable than 96% of counties
All 19 measures
Change of every measure of Borden County, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure
Before
After
Change
Reading
Favourable vs peers
Average commute time
25.4 min2015-2019
13.6 min2020-2024
−11.8 min
Within the margin of error
100%
Average weekly wage
$8502020
$1,5962025
+88%
Improved
100%
Bachelor's degree or higher
39.5%2015-2019
36.9%2020-2024
−2.6 points
Within the margin of error
3%
Broadband subscriptions
79.7%2015-2019
85.6%2020-2024
+5.9 points
Within the margin of error
15%
Child poverty rate
15.4%2019
10.1%2024
−5.3 points
Within the margin of error
90%
Distance to an airport
66 mi2020
66 mi2025
0 mi
Little change
50%
High school diploma or higher
94.7%2015-2019
94.4%2020-2024
−0.3 points
Within the margin of error
11%
Home price to income ratio
2.1×2015-2019
1.7×2020-2024
−0.5×
Within the margin of error
98%
Income adjusted for local prices
$86,2652019
$154,9132024
+80%
Improved
100%
Income inequality (Gini index)
0.3922015-2019
0.5262020-2024
+0.134
Declined
0%
Median household income
$71,9262019
$96,5862024
+34%
Improved
88%
New business applications
12.4 /1k2020
10.6 /1k2025
−15%
Declined
4%
Poverty rate
10.6%2019
10.2%2024
−0.4 points
Within the margin of error
55%
Public transit commuters
0.0%2015-2019
0.0%2020-2024
0 points
Within the margin of error
73%
Rent as share of income
18.9%2015-2019
9.0%2020-2024
−9.9 points
Improved
98%
Students per teacher
10.9×2019
11.3×2024
+0.4×
Little change
16%
Traffic deaths
243.3 /100k2015-2019
134.4 /100k2020-2024
−45%
Within the margin of error
93%
Unemployment rate
5.3%2020
3.3%2025
−2 points
Improved
35%
Uninsured residents (under 65)
12.3%2019
13.7%2024
+1.4 points
Within the margin of error
6%
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 3114 counties that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Sources: Regional Economic Accounts; Local Area Unemployment Statistics; Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages; American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates; Business Formation Statistics; Small Area Health Insurance Estimates; Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates; Common Core of Data; Fatality Analysis Reporting System; Distance to airports and intercity rail. 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 3144 counties 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.
For comparison, Borden County, Texas itself moved +1.9 points in standing on average over the same 27 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.
Borden County, Texas is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.
Borden County has 10 employer establishments, 175 for every 10,000 residents (0.70× the US rate of 248; 0.80× Texas's), with 32 paid employees at an average annual pay of $56,906. The Census Bureau also counts 71 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.
Establishments
10
71 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents
175
US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees
32
Average annual pay
$56,906
US $68,342
Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Borden County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation
County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)
Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 573 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.
In FY2026, federal agencies obligated $35.3M in grants, loans, direct payments and insurance for Borden County, Texas: $62,224 per resident (US $12,957).
Organizations only: awards to individuals and county aggregate records count in the totals but are never listed. Grants to state governments recorded at the agency's own address are counted statewide, not in the capital's county.
No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.
How Borden County, Texas compares: the federal money it received per resident, and how jobs, income, housing and other outcomes moved, each next to the United States.
Money per resident
By federal fiscal year (October to September, named by the year it ends), obligations per resident. A year with no record counts as $0.
Borden County, Texas
United States
partial year
Contracts and grantsUS dollars per residentTable view
Money per resident, Borden County, Texas and the United States, by fiscal year
Fiscal years (FY2024 = October 2023 to September 2024)
Borden County, Texas
United States
FY2021
$77.01
$5,748
FY2022
$46.24
$5,221
FY2023
$318
$5,364
FY2024
$7,059
$5,501
FY2025
-$101
$5,732
FY2026
$256 (partial year)
$5,447
Transportation grantsUS dollars per residentTable view
Money per resident, Borden County, Texas and the United States, by fiscal year
Fiscal years (FY2024 = October 2023 to September 2024)
Borden County, Texas
United States
FY2021
$0
$298
FY2022
$0
$357
FY2023
$112
$301
FY2024
$6,833
$319
FY2025
-$409
$360
FY2026
-$22.97
Housing assistanceUS dollars per residentTable view
Money per resident, Borden County, Texas and the United States, by fiscal year
Fiscal years (FY2024 = October 2023 to September 2024)
Borden County, Texas
United States
FY2021
$0
$239
FY2022
$0
$185
FY2023
$111
$229
FY2024
$136
$229
FY2025
$213
$249
FY2026
$188
SBA lending volumeUS dollars per residentTable view
Money per resident, Borden County, Texas and the United States, by fiscal year
Fiscal years (FY2024 = October 2023 to September 2024)
Borden County, Texas
United States
FY2021
$888
$1,186
FY2022
$0
$465
FY2023
-$1.92
$76.52
FY2024
$0
$120
FY2025
$0
$148
FY2026
$0
Fiscal years (FY2024 = October 2023 to September 2024)
How outcomes moved
Calendar years. Charts share the same years as the money above. Levels are shown as percent change since 2016; rates are shown as the rate itself.
Borden County, Texas
United States
Years with money loaded
Job growthpercentTable view
Job growth, Borden County, Texas and the United States, by year
Calendar years
Borden County, Texas
United States
2014
5.7%
2.0%
2015
4.1%
When its money jumped
A county-year with at least 10,000 residents whose money per resident is at least twice its earlier average counts as a jump. Each is compared with up to five similar counties in the same region whose money did not jump.
Counties under 10,000 residents are not assessed: their money per resident swings too much from year to year.
Sources: Regional Economic Accounts, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Business Formation Statistics, Building Permits Survey, Cartographic Boundary Files, Gazetteer and metro delineations, Population Estimates Program, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, Federal financial assistance transactions (Financial Assistance Broker Submission), Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System), Zillow Home Value Index, Observed Rent Index and affordability. JSON · /api/v1/outcomes/places/48033
