Ben BoltTX
A town of 2,152, settled in 1906.
Is Ben Bolt a good place to live?
Ben Bolt’s best subject grade is a B+ for cost of living; its weakest is a C− for health. Ben Bolt’s January low is 46°F, against 37°F in Texas’ towns and 22°F across U.S. towns. Only 39 of Texas’ 1,000 towns score lower on history. Ben Bolt has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
98% of working residents leave Ben Bolt for work
Where Ben Bolt’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Ben Bolt grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Ben Bolt is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Ben Bolt: who provides what
Ben Bolt is unincorporated, so Jim Wells County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Ben Bolt.
On CDC estimates, Ben Bolt is less healthy than four in five U.S. towns
In Ben Bolt, 14% of adults binge drink, below both the Texas town median (17%) and the median of U.S. towns (16%). This Texas town does better than the Texas average on 2 of 31 CDC measures and worse on 13. The share of adults in Ben Bolt who say their health is fair or poor: 33%.
| Ben Bolt | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 24% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 13% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 30% | 25% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 18% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Ben Bolt | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.4% | 6.1% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 77.4% | 74.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 33.6% | 19.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
On state tests, Ben Bolt’s schools trail 81% of Texas districts
Its public schools are run by Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco ISD. 2 public schools serve Ben Bolt, with 444 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco ElLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 238 | C+ |
| Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco H SLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 206 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Ben Bolt has 0.4 jobs per working resident, so most workers leave town for work
Among residents in Ben Bolt, 16% live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Ben Bolt has added 96 jobs, to 201 in 2023. For Ben Bolt, the typical household income is $62,000. Half the trips to work are shorter than 33 miles.
| Ben Bolt | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.6% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $62,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Ben Bolt has mild winters and hot summers
July afternoons reach 97°, January nights drop to 46° and snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest natural risk in Ben Bolt is cold waves, at a high overall level
Federal aid has come to Ben Bolt households in 3 declared disasters; the latest was in 2021. Compared with 65% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in the town is higher. Just over two fifths of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from cold waves, followed by hurricanes at 27%.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The median home in Ben Bolt sells for about $37K
For Ben Bolt, the median rent is $873 a month. In Ben Bolt, 76% of households own their home.
| Ben Bolt | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $873 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 76% | 69% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Ben Bolt
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Ben Bolt; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Ben Bolt residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
About Ben Bolt
Census-designated place in Texas, United States
Ben Bolt is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in south central Jim Wells County, Texas, United States, 7 miles (11 km) south of Alice on U.S. Route 281. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census, with a population of 1,662.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 12 sq mi
- ZIP code
- 78342
Questions about Ben Bolt
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Ben Bolt, TX expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $100,000, 66% below the Texas typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.