CactusTX
A town of 3,165, settled in 1948.
Is Cactus a good place to live?
Cactus gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $202K for a typical one, or 3.3 years of the Dumas area’s $62K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 235th of 640 graded towns in Texas. The low prices come with trade-offs. On CDC health estimates it is near the bottom nationally, and the median household income is $45K, and 21% of residents live below the poverty line. 50% of working residents work locally in Cactus, above both the Texas town median (8.3%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Only 20 of Texas’ 1,000 towns score lower on history.
What makes Cactus stand out
Where Cactus beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Jobs vs. working residents
Typical home value
| Widest gap | Cactus | TX |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 47% | 19.1% |
Every workday, about 3,555 people come to Cactus for work
Where Cactus’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Cactus grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Cactus is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for cost of living (better than 96% of comparable towns) to D− for health (better than 1%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Cactus: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cactus, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Cactus.
Cactus draws workers from Dumas and beyond, has home values rising while Texas’s fall and has more 90° days than most of the country, though not than most of Texas.
Cactus stands out in Texas and nationally, with more of its adults who say their health is fair or poor
44% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Cactus. Cactus beats the Texas average on 3 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 24. 22% of adults report frequent mental distress in Cactus.
| Cactus | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 24% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 14% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 20% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cactus | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 2.9% | 6.1% |
| Fewer binge drinkers | 15% | 17% |
| More uninsured adults | 47% | 19.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
About half of Cactus’ working residents work in town
4,020 jobs are based in Cactus, 4.3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 14 minutes, against 26.7 across Texas.
The average trip to work in Cactus is 14 minutes. Since 2013, Cactus has added 3,913 jobs, to 4,020 in 2023. The top destinations are Dumas (8%), Amarillo (6%) and Lubbock (2%).
| Cactus | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $45,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Compared with most of Texas and the rest of the country, fewer of Cactus’ households own their home
Values rose 3.4% in the past year while the Texas typical home fell 1.5%. The median property tax bill is $863, against $4,232 across Texas, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
33% of Cactus households own their home. The typical Cactus home is worth about $202,000, 32% below the Texas typical home. Cactus’ median rent is $816 a month.
| Cactus | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 33% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $816 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Low risk in Cactus, with cold waves at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 68% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Cactus has four seasons and hot summers
The Dumas weather station, 12 miles away, records that about 73 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 96% of Texas places with climate records. July afternoons average 93°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 86% of Texas places with climate records; January nights average 22.3°.
Cactus has chilly winters and hot summers, with very little rain. Among 642 Texas towns, just 2 have a lower January low than Cactus. About 9 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Cactus | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 93°F | 95°F | 85°F |
| January low | 22°F | 37°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Cactus sees more crime per resident than 56% of U.S. towns
Reported crimes fell from 39 to 21 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
| Cactus | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.7% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cactus Park | 0.3 mi | 5 |
| 2. Castro Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Cactus
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Cactus; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Cactus residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
About Cactus
City in Texas, United States
Cactus is a city in Moore County, Texas, United States, located along U.S. Route 287. The population was 3,057 at the 2020 census. "Cactus Texas", a song by Waylon Jennings, is a sketch of Cactus from years past.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.1 sq mi
- Elevation
- 3,619 ft
- ZIP code
- 79013
- Area code
- 806
Questions about Cactus
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Cactus, TX a good place to live?
Cactus grades C+ overall, better than 42% of U.S. towns and #235 of 640 in Texas. It grades D− for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Cactus, TX expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A+.