Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Residents are less healthy than 96% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Overall it grades C, 331st among Texas's 640 graded towns. Natural-hazard risk is low. 8.6% of residents are under 18 in Gatesville, below both the Texas town median (26%) and the median of U.S. towns (22%). Gatesville has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Coryell County Courthouse and Gatesville Downtown Historic District. Gatesville's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 82% of U.S. towns.
Where Gatesville beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Gatesville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 434 in 1880, 16,135 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1884 and 4 maps from 1947 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gatesville, 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 Gatesville.
Gatesville carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Texas (mostly inland flooding), fares better on crime within Texas than nationally and has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns.
23% of adults smoke cigarettes in Gatesville. Gatesville beats the Texas average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 20. 45% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Gatesville.
| Gatesville | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 18% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 20% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 18% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Gatesville | TX |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 23.2% | 12.5% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 19.3% | 10.7% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 32% | 19.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by Gatesville ISD. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Gatesville H S, with 782 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gatesville ElLargest public elementary schoolGrades 1–3 | Grades 1–3 | 606 | B+ |
| Gatesville H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 782 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 90% of Texas towns, with expected losses of about $156 per resident a year; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Gatesville is 14 of 100. Since 1998, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Gatesville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
3.0 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Freedom Park, at 36 acres.
| Gatesville | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.8% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Freedom Park | — | 36 |
| 2. Raby Park | 0.1 mi | 12 |
| 3. Faunt Le Roy Park | — | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Gatesville weather station records that about 110 days a year reach 90°, more than in 97% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 95.8°, hotter than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.1°.
Gatesville has mild winters and hot summers. Gatesville’s July high is 96°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Gatesville | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 96°F | 95°F | 85°F |
| January low | 35°F | 37°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical Gatesville home is worth about $240,000, up 1.6% in a year, 19% below the Texas typical home. 64% of Gatesville households own their home.
| Gatesville | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 64% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,007 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
About one in 5 of Gatesville’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Gatesville fell to 3,286 in 2023, 201 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Austin (8%), Waco (6%) and Temple (4%).
| Gatesville | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $57,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 9.1% | 12% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 14.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 74% of Texas’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 201 to 133 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
None within 15 miles of Gatesville; the nearest are
About 5 of every 100 Gatesville residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
3 places in Gatesville on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Gatesville.
City in Texas, United States
Gatesville is a city in and the county seat of Coryell County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,135 at the 2020 census. The city has five of the nine prisons and state jails for women operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The Patrick O'Daniel Unit (formerly Mountain View Unit), has the state's death row for women. Gatesville is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan statistical area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Gatesville grades C overall, better than 26% of U.S. towns and #331 of 640 in Texas. It grades D− for health, B for safety and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 3.4 years of the area's median household income ($69,923 across the Killeen-Temple, TX metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
9 notable people were born here, including Mike Weaver and Cotton Davidson.
