Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A regional job hub with 951 jobs.
Emory’s best subject grade is a B+ for walkability; its weakest is a D for incomes. 29% of residents live below the poverty line in Emory, where Texas’ towns sit at 12% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Only 67 of Texas’ 990 towns score lower on incomes. Rains County Courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places. Emory has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Emory beats most towns.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Emory is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 353 in 1890, 1,251 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and a map from 1956 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Emory, 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 Emory.
Most working residents leave Emory for work: only 6% work in town. At $37,000, Emory’s median household income is below both Texas’ towns ($69,000) and U.S. towns ($80,000). Emory’s average trip to work is 27 minutes.
| Emory | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $37,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.5% | 8.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Emory has mild winters and hot summers. The July high in Emory is 94°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Emory beats the Texas average on 6 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 13% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Emory.
| Emory | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 22% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 74% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| What stands out | Emory | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 13.1% | 19.1% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 12.5% | 16.4% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 18.3% | 12.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 57% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Emory home is worth about $300,000, up 3.6% in a year, close to the Texas typical home. 48% of Emory households own their home.
| Emory | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 48% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $940 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sandy Creek Park | 0.5 mi | 17 |
| 2. Ruby McKeown City Park | 0.1 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Emory; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Emory residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
Where Emory’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
City in Texas, United States
Emory is a city in Rains County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Emory had a population of 1,251. It is the county seat of Rains County. Previously known as Springville, the city and county are named after Emory Rains, who was a legislator from the area. Rains was the author of the Homestead Law of Texas, which was later used as a model for the protection of homesteads throughout the United States. Special legislation passed to create Rains County called for the citizens to vote on the location of the county seat and for that selected town to be named Emory.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 4.6 years of the area's median household income ($65,413 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
