County · Texas

McLennan County, Texas

McLennan County, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 33 out of 100 (low), ranking #2,109 of 3,143 US counties. Within Texas it ranks #115 of 254 counties. It ranks best on natural hazard risk (low), injury deaths (low) and comfortable days (high). It ranks worst on time spent in the emergency room (high), rent as share of income (high) and hot days (high).

33Low
Quality-of-life score
#2,109 of 3,143 counties
Texas
#115 of 254 in TX
Population
272,020 (2025)
Land area
1,037 mi²
Density
262.4 /mi²
FIPS code
48309

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 79 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Location of McLennan County, Texas

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US counties.

  • Safety40#1,859/3,096
  • Economy45#1,731/3,143
  • Housing6#2,940/3,140
  • Health61#1,232/3,144
  • Healthcare41#1,866/3,143
  • Environment32#2,113/3,108
  • Education48#1,628/3,144
  • Infrastructure68#1,008/3,144
  • Community16#2,640/3,144
  • Leisure & amenities32#2,132/3,143

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where McLennan County, Texas ranks highest and lowest among US counties (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

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 McLennan County, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of McLennan 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.

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 Waco, 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.

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.

Metro area

The metro or micro area McLennan County belongs to. A county is in at most one.

Cities and towns in McLennan County

Places whose residents live mostly in McLennan County, largest first.

  1. Waco143,570
  2. Hewitt16,432
  3. Robinson12,800
  4. Bellmead10,566
  5. Woodway9,570
  6. Lacy-Lakeview7,274
  7. McGregor5,761
  8. West2,576
  9. Willow Grove2,080
  10. Mart1,704
  11. Beverly Hills1,590
  12. Bruceville-Eddy1,584
  13. Lorena1,497
  14. Riesel1,453
  15. Moody1,390
  16. China Spring1,126
  17. Gholson1,112
  18. Crawford1,020
  19. Leroy458
  20. Hallsburg400
  21. Ross202

Neighboring counties

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar counties

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.

JSON · /api/v1/places/48309