According to Saturday Night Science, Prairie View and Donna are the poorest places in Texas for 2024.
Just like any other state, Texas also has some places that are currently facing difficult times. These places in Texas have a higher percentage of people who are living in poverty, unemployed, or not earning as much as they should be.
While the economy is getting better, it’s important to examine the areas in each state that are having difficulty meeting their financial needs. So we decided to focus on finding the poorest areas in Texas.
We analyzed the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 360 cities in Texas with more than 5,000 people using Saturday Night Science.
Which city in Texas has the lowest income? Based on the information, Prairie View is considered the most economically disadvantaged area in Texas for the year 2024.
This is not a criticism of the residents or the lively culture and traditions of these locations. Instead, it’s simply an examination of the facts.
Poorest Cities In Texas For 2024
Prairie View
Population: 8,039
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $19,238 (lowest)
Poverty Rate: 44.7% (highest)
People In Poverty: 3,590
Donna
Population: 16,742
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 2)
Median Income: $34,049 (5th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 38.0% (2nd highest)
People In Poverty: 6,366
Mexia
Population: 6,907
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 3)
Median Income: $33,239 (4th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 36.6% (3rd highest)
People In Poverty: 2,527
Roma
Population: 11,531
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 1)
Median Income: $26,951 (2nd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 33.7% (6th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,882
Los Fresnos
Population: 8,081
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 7)
Median Income: $39,536 (16th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 34.6% (5th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,796
Robstown
Population: 10,246
Rank Last Year: 19 (Up 13)
Median Income: $35,417 (6th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 30.4% (16th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,115
Nacogdoches
Population: 32,148
Rank Last Year: 13 (Up 6)
Median Income: $37,612 (9th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 30.9% (13th highest)
People In Poverty: 9,930
La Feria
Population: 6,848
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 2)
Median Income: $38,656 (13th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 31.5% (10th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,159
Also Read: Exploring the Most Dangerous And Worst Neighborhoods In Vancouver, WA
Method to Determine The Poorest Places In Texas for 2024
When most people think about identifying the poorest places, the first thing that usually comes to mind is looking at the poverty rate. That means the number of people who have an income below a certain level set by the government for a household of a specific size.
However, we believe that one statistic alone does not fully capture the essence of being one of the “poorest places”. We used Saturday Night Science to examine a set of criteria from the recently published 2018-2022 American Community Survey.
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
Once we gathered data for all 360 locations in Texas with populations exceeding 5,000 people, we assigned a ranking from 1 to 360 for each location based on specific criteria. A ranking of 1 indicates the lowest performance in each category.
We calculated the average rankings for each place and assigned a “Poor Score” to them. The place with the lowest overall Poor Score, Prairie View, was named the “Poorest Place In Texas For 2024”. This report has been updated for the year 2024. It is the tenth time we have ranked the poorest places in Texas.
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