Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Fort Stockton gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $168K for a typical one, or 2.3 years of the county’s $73K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 277th among Texas's 640 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its public schools trail 90% of Texas towns on state tests and graduation and CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 80% of the country. On the plus side, it reports less crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns. 31% of working residents work locally in Fort Stockton, where Texas’ towns sit at 8.3% and U.S. towns at 8%. On hazard risk, just 81 of Texas’ 1,000 towns do better. Fort Stockton Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Fort Stockton beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Eschool Prep Academy | K–8 | 5,650 |
| Fort Stockton Int | 4–5 | 341 |
| Fort Stockton Apache El | PK–1 | 331 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Fort Stockton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,297 in 1920, 8,466 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1940 and 2 maps from 1921 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fort Stockton, 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 Fort Stockton.
Fort Stockton trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Texas (mostly inland flooding) and fares better on crime within Texas than nationally.
The biggest park or preserve is James Rooney Memorial Park, at 33 acres. Across 7 parks and preserves: 4.4 miles of trail. The density of trails in Fort Stockton is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Fort Stockton | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.9% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. James Rooney Memorial Park | 0.8 mi | 33 |
| 2. Cummings Park | 0.3 mi | 11 |
| 3. Lannom Park | 0.1 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Public schools: Fort Stockton ISD. Below: Two of its 9 schools, each with why it was picked. The largest public high school is Lone Star Virtual Academy, with 3,628 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Stockton MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 502 | D |
| Butz Preparatory AcademyLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,039 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Homes are within reach (about $168K for the typical one, B for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 72 miles. At 2.3 years of the county’s $73K median household income, the typical home (about $168K) costs less against local pay than in 87% of Texas towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
Zillow values the typical Fort Stockton home at about $168,000, down 1.6% in a year, 43% below the Texas typical home. The going rate for rent for Fort Stockton comes to $974 a month.
| Fort Stockton | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $974 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 69% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 90% of Texas towns, with expected losses of about $231 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
Fort Stockton’s FEMA hazard score is 14 of 100. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 46% come from inland flooding and 12% from heat waves.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Among adults in Fort Stockton, 27% worry about having enough food. In Fort Stockton, 30% of adults say their health is fair or poor, and 17% have diabetes.
| Fort Stockton | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 30% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 24% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 12% |
| What stands out | Fort Stockton | TX |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 30% | 19.1% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17.5% | 12.5% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 27% | 19.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 9.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 90% of Texas’s graded towns.
For Fort Stockton, the property crime rate is 3.1 per 1,000 residents. The town’s violent crime rate stands at 2 per 1,000 residents.
| Fort Stockton | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.1 per 1,000 residents | 10.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The average commute for its 3,595 working residents takes 17.9 minutes, against 26.7 across Texas.
For residents in Fort Stockton, the share who live below the poverty line is 21%. About one worker in three stays in Fort Stockton for work. In Fort Stockton, the average trip to work is 18 minutes. The top destinations are Midland (12%), Odessa (8%) and Houston (2%).
| Fort Stockton | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 21% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $85,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Ft Stockton weather station records that about 126 days a year reach 90°, more than in 98% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 95.5°, hotter than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 33.4°.
In Fort Stockton, the peak summer temperature is 96°F. About 1 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Fort Stockton | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 96°F | 95°F | 85°F |
| January low | 33°F | 37°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
None within 15 miles of Fort Stockton; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Fort Stockton residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
6 notable people were born in Fort Stockton.
City in Texas, United States
Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways 67, 285, and 385, and the Santa Fe Railroad, 329 mi (529 km) northwest of San Antonio and 240 mi (390 km) southeast of El Paso. Its population was 8,466 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Fort Stockton grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #277 of 640 in Texas. It grades C− for health, A− for safety and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
6 notable people were born here, including Saxton Pope and Bill Greif.
