Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 150,640, settled in 1904. Public schools that outperform most of Texas.
Trash & recyclingMcAllen is a city of 150,640, and it grades C− overall, 412th of 640 graded towns in Texas. Its schools outperform 73% of the state's. The trade-off: homes are expensive, about $227K for a typical one and 4.2 times the McAllen metro’s $54K median household income. 37% of working residents work locally in McAllen, where Texas’ towns sit at 8.3% and U.S. towns at 8%. McAllen's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 96% of U.S. towns. McAllen is home to South Texas College.
Where McAllen beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Gonzalez El | PK–5 | 818 |
| Milam El | PK–5 | 811 |
| Idea Los Encinos Academy | K–5 | 770 |
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| South Texas College | 20,017 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far McAllen is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1917 and 3 maps from 1914 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in McAllen, 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 McAllen.
McAllen draws workers from Edinburg and beyond, has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns and has better schools than Hidalgo or any other neighbor.
84,819 jobs are based in McAllen, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 3 of McAllen’s working residents works in town. 20% of McAllen residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in McAllen grew to 84,819 in 2023, 11,464 more than in 2013.
| McAllen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 20% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $62,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 12% | 9.6% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its B+ is the best School Grade on its borders; Hidalgo (B) is next.
Its public schools are run by McAllen ISD. Three of its 58 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morris MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 999 | A |
| McAllen H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,134 | B+ |
| Achieve Early College H STop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 428 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
23 miles of trail in 45 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is McAllen Sports Park, at 54 acres.
| McAllen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 4.6% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge | 3.2 mi | 1,151 |
| 2. Camp Mcallen | 1.3 mi | 23 |
| 3. Bill Schupp Park | 1 mi | 20 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
McAllen beats the Texas average on 2 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 30% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in McAllen.
| McAllen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 20% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 24% | 19% |
| What stands out | McAllen | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.9% | 6.1% |
| Fewer adults with asthma | 8.4% | 9.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 30.3% | 19.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Home values rose 26% in five years, to about $227K, against 10% across Texas.
The typical McAllen home is worth about $227,000, about the same as a year ago, 23% below the Texas typical home.
| McAllen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 60% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,049 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The Mcallen weather station records that about 170 days a year reach 90°, more than in 99% of U.S. towns. January nights average 49.8°, milder than in 99% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 97.4°.
McAllen has warm winters and hot summers, with very little rain. McAllen’s January low is 50°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| McAllen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 50°F | 37°F | 22°F |
| July high | 97°F | 95°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
463 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 39 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 463 flood insurance claims have been paid out in McAllen.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes fell from 3,049 to 2,327 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in McAllen is 14.2 per 1,000 residents.
| McAllen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 14.2 per 1,000 residents | 10.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.3 per 1,000 residents | 1.9 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Texas average. McAllen has grown 5.9% since 2020, to 150,640 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 33% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 34% across Texas.
| McAllen | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 28% | 26% | 22% |
| Median age | 33.5 years | 35.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 14% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 33% | 23% | 29% |
50.7% women, 49.3% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±0.9 points. Across Texas, 50.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 35.8, men 31.3.
| McAllen | TX | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.2% | 13.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13% | 11.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.6% | 9.7% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.4% | 14.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.6% | 14.1% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.6% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9.5% | 11.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.4% | 8.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.7% | 5.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 19.9% | 14% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.4% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.5% | 20.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.7% | 7.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.9% | 21.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.6% | 12.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around McAllen. Close and well known come first.
5 mi Stadium & arenaBert Ogden Arena8 mi Stadium & arenaRobert and Janet Vackar Stadium
7 mi Stadium & arenaPayne Arena8 mi MuseumMuseum of South Texas History
in town GardenMcAllen Botanical Gardens
5 mi TheatreBorder TheaterBert Ogden Arena: Wikidude10000, CC0 · Payne Arena: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0 · McAllen Botanical Gardens: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, United States, CC BY 3.0 us · Border Theater: Andres Gonzalez, CC BY-SA 4.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of McAllen
About 7 of every 100 McAllen residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Texas.
Where McAllen’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in McAllen on the National Register of Historic Places.
23 notable people were born in McAllen.
City in Texas, United States
McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, across from the Mexican city of Reynosa. As of the 2025 census estimate, McAllen's population was 150,640, making it the most populous city in Hidalgo County, the second most populous city in the Rio Grande Valley, and the 23rd-most populous city in Texas. The city anchors the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metropolitan area, the fifth largest metropolitan area in the state of Texas, with 921,549 residents as of 2025. The binational Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan area counts a population of more than 1.5 million…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with McAllen.
It grades higher overall than all 5 graded towns on its borders; Hidalgo (D) comes closest. Alton next door grades lower for schools (C to McAllen’s B+) and higher for cost of living (C to D).
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
McAllen grades C− overall, better than 17% of U.S. towns and #412 of 640 in Texas. It grades C for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
23 notable people were born here, including Elizabeth Moon and Raúl Castillo.
