Is La Joya a good place to live?
La Joya gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $156K, 2.9 years of the McAllen metro’s $54K median household income. It grades C− overall, 405th of 640 graded towns in Texas. The low prices come with trade-offs. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 85% of the country. La Joya’s January low is 49°F, above both the Texas town median (37°F) and the median of U.S. towns (22°F). La Joya's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 100% of U.S. towns. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 84% of U.S. towns.
What makes La Joya stand out
Where La Joya beats most towns.
La Joya has grown 32% since 2010
3,985 counted in 2010 and 4,457 in 2020; an estimated 5,257 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 18.2% since 2020, after 11.8% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How La Joya grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far La Joya is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to La Joya: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in La Joya, 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 La Joya.
La Joya draws workers from Mission and beyond, fares better on crime within Texas than nationally and has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns.
Conserved land covers 0.2% of La Joya
3.3 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. La Joya’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| La Joya | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.2% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. La Joya Baseball Park | 0.6 mi | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
La Joya’s public schools trail 65% of Texas districts
Its public schools are run by La Joya ISD. Three of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is La Joya H S, with 2,405 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idea la Joya AcademyLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 656 | – |
| La Joya H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,405 | C− |
| Thelma Rosa Salinas STEM Early College H STop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 471 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
About one in five working residents works right in La Joya
4,216 jobs are based in La Joya, 3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 19.7 minutes, against 26.7 across Texas.
About one in 5 of La Joya’s working residents works in town. 22% of La Joya residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in La Joya grew to 4,216 in 2023, 3,984 more than in 2013.
| La Joya | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 22% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 8.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
La Joya’s grade for cost of living is a B
Home values rose 33% in five years, to about $156K, against 10% across Texas. The median property tax bill is $2,052, against $4,232 across Texas, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
53% of households own their home in La Joya. The typical La Joya home is worth about $156,000, down 0.6% in a year, 47% below the Texas typical home. The median rent in La Joya is $884 a month.
| La Joya | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $884 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
La Joya’s grade for health is a D
Against the 6,956 U.S. towns with household incomes like La Joya’s, it is less healthy than 70%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
La Joya beats the Texas average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 14.
| La Joya | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 24% | 19% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 20% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 30% | 25% |
| What stands out | La Joya | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.2% | 6.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 39.2% | 19.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Compared with most of Texas and the rest of the country, a typical July afternoon in La Joya is hotter
The Mcallen weather station, 15 miles away, records that about 170 days a year reach 90°, more than in 99% of U.S. towns. January nights average 49.2°, milder than in 98% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 98.4°.
La Joya has warm winters and hot summers, with very little rain. Snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
La Joya faces a moderate natural-hazard risk, led by cold waves
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 56% of U.S. communities. Since 1996, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in La Joya.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Less crime per resident in La Joya than in 54% of U.S. towns
At 16.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 67% of Texas’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 50 to 31 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
Bert Ogden Arena and 5 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around La Joya. Close and well known come first.
19 mi Stadium & arenaBert Ogden Arena21 mi Stadium & arenaRobert and Janet Vackar Stadium
17 mi Stadium & arenaPayne Arena20 mi MuseumMuseum of South Texas History
10 mi TheatreBorder Theater
15 mi GardenMcAllen Botanical GardensPhoto credits
Bert Ogden Arena: Wikidude10000, CC0 · Payne Arena: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0 · Border Theater: Andres Gonzalez, CC BY-SA 4.0 · McAllen Botanical Gardens: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, United States, CC BY 3.0 us
Everything we know about La Joya
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of La Joya
About 3 of every 100 La Joya residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
Every workday, about 3,937 people come to La Joya for work
Where La Joya’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About La Joya
City in Texas, United States
La Joya is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,457 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1965
- Area
- 4.4 sq mi
- Elevation
- 174 ft
- ZIP code
- 78560
- Area code
- 956
La Joya’s neighbors
One town shares a border with La Joya.
Questions about La Joya
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is La Joya, TX a good place to live?
La Joya grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #405 of 640 in Texas. It grades D for health, B− for safety and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Is La Joya, TX expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
What is La Joya, TX known for?
2 notable people were born here, including Mayra Rosales and Sergio Castillo.