Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Amarillo grades D overall, ranked 480th of 640 in Texas, mostly because of safety. Its crime rate is higher than 92% of U.S. towns, with 1,126 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. What it does well: it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 70% of U.S. towns. 65% of working residents work locally in Amarillo, above both the Texas town median (8.3%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Its National Register listings include Central Presbyterian Church and Llano Cemetery Historic District. Among 642 Texas towns, just 10 have a lower January low than Amarillo.
Where Amarillo beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Landergin-Harrington House
Cyd Charisse
Census counts: 482 in 1890, 200,393 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1889 and 3 maps from 1956 on.
36 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Amarillo is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Amarillo, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Amarillo.
Amarillo has home values rising while Texas’s fall and has more 90° days than most of the country, though not than most of Texas; it also has a long record of flood insurance claims.
69 miles of trail in 75 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Southeast Complex, at 626 acres. Amarillo’s trail density is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Amarillo | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.8% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. John Stiff Memorial Park | 3.1 mi | 354 |
| 2. Greenways Park | 2.2 mi | 45 |
| 3. John Ward Memorial Park (Medipark) | 1.8 mi | 67 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by Amarillo ISD. Three of its 83 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonham MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 892 | A− |
| Tascosa H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,176 | B |
| Sleepy Hollow ElTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 519 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes fell from 7,704 to 6,031 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Amarillo is 5.5 per 1,000 residents. Amarillo reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 92% report less. The property crime rate in Amarillo is 24 per 1,000 residents.
| Amarillo | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.5 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 24 per 1,000 residents | 10.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Amarillo beats the Texas average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 19% of Amarillo adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Amarillo | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 74% | 74% | 79% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 24% | 19% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 20% | 14% |
| What stands out | Amarillo | TX |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 7.3% | 5.7% |
| More smokers | 14.9% | 12.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 7.2% | 6.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Values rose 4.3% in the past year while the Texas typical home fell 1.5%.
The typical Amarillo home is worth about $210,000, 29% below the Texas typical home. 60% of households own their home in Amarillo.
| Amarillo | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 60% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,092 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The Amarillo weather station, 7 miles away, records that about 72 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 97% of Texas places with climate records. July afternoons average 92.1°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 93% of Texas places with climate records; January nights average 24.1°.
Amarillo has chilly winters and hot summers, with very little rain. About 17 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 85,927 working residents takes 19.6 minutes, against 26.7 across Texas.
Jobs based in Amarillo fell to 87,831 in 2023, 7,408 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Lubbock (4%), Canyon (3%) and Cactus (1%). Half commute less than 5 miles.
| Amarillo | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 6.6% | 9.7% | 11% |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
409 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 20 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 63% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 409 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Amarillo.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Texas average. Amarillo has grown 2.4% since 2020, to 205,130 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 27% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 34% across Texas.
| Amarillo | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 35.1 years | 35.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 26% | 26% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 14% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 27% | 23% | 29% |
51.1% women, 48.9% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Texas, 50.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 36.1, men 33.9.
| Amarillo | TX | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 14.1% | 13.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12% | 11.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.3% | 9.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.6% | 14.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.6% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.3% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10% | 11.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.9% | 8.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.2% | 5.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 13.5% | 14% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.8% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 23.8% | 20.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.2% | 7.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 17.8% | 21.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 8.8% | 12.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Amarillo. Close and well known come first.
20 mi Canyon & gorgePalo Duro Canyon
in town MuseumAmerican Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
in town Theme parkWonderland Park
in town MuseumDon Harrington Discovery Center
in town MuseumAmarillo Museum of Art
27 mi National MonumentAlibates Flint Quarries National Monument8K visitors a yearPalo Duro Canyon: Kimberly Vardeman from Lubbock, TX, USA, CC BY 3.0 · American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame: No machine-readable author provided. J. Nguyen~commonswiki assumed (based on cop, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wonderland Park: Slapshot46 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 · Don Harrington Discovery Center: Who What Where Nguyen Why, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Amarillo Museum of Art: Who What Where Nguyen Why a/k/a Anonymous Cow, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument: NPS Photo, Public domain
1 within 15 miles of the center of Amarillo
About 5 of every 100 Amarillo residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
36 places in Amarillo on the National Register of Historic Places.
52 notable people were born in Amarillo.
City in Texas, United States
Amarillo ( AM-ə-RIL-oh; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County. It is the 17th-most populous city in Texas and the most populous city in the Texas panhandle. The estimated population of Amarillo was 203,729 as of 2024, comprising nearly half of the panhandle's population. The Amarillo metropolitan area had an estimated population of 308,297 as of 2020. The city of Amarillo, originally named Oneida, is situated in the Llano Estacado region. The availability of the railroad and freight service provided by the Fort Worth and Denver Railway contributed to the city's…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Amarillo grades D overall, better than 11% of U.S. towns and #480 of 640 in Texas. It grades C for health, D for safety and B− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3 years of the area's median household income ($69,611 across the Amarillo, TX metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
52 notable people were born here, including Cyd Charisse and George Saunders.
