Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 6% of U.S. towns · #512 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Fair Oaks Ranch was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1967 on and the census since 1990.
More historic than 6% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fair Oaks Ranch is more historic than 6% of U.S. towns, #512 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Fair Oaks Ranch’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fair Oaks Ranch’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fair Oaks Ranch.
The land on which Fair Oaks Ranch rests was acquired in the 1930s by Ralph Fair Sr., who worked in the oil industry and owned cattle and racehorses. A residential community was established by Fair's family in the 1970s and the community was incorporated in 1988.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fair Oaks Ranch. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fair Oaks Ranch.
Grew from 1,860 people in 1990 to 9,833 in 2020, 5 times over.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fair Oaks Ranch’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Fair Oaks Ranch itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Van Raub, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Fair Oaks Ranch is more historic than 6% of U.S. towns, #512 of 642 in Texas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
0.0% of Fair Oaks Ranch’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 2002.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
