Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Socorro is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, ranked 383rd of 640 in Texas, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is safety: it reports less crime per resident than 57% of U.S. towns. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $210K, 3.5 years of the El Paso metro’s $60K median household income. On hazard risk, just 35 of Texas’ 1,000 towns do better. Socorro's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 100% of U.S. towns. Socorro’s July high is 97°F, above both the Texas town median (95°F) and the median of U.S. towns (85°F).
Where Socorro beats most towns.
Its founding year, 1680, is the earliest of any Texas town we grade.
Census counts: 801 in 1890, 34,306 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1682 and 6 maps from 1939 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Socorro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Socorro, 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 Socorro.
Socorro 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.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 95% of Texas towns, with expected losses of about $89 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
Socorro’s FEMA risk score is 10 of 100. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Socorro since 2004.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by Socorro ISD. Two of its 11 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ernesto Serna Fine Arts AcademyLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 831 | C+ |
| Socorro H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,579 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
Against the 7,336 U.S. towns with household incomes like Socorro’s, it is less healthy than 63%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
Socorro beats the Texas average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 15. 18% of adults have diabetes in Socorro.
| Socorro | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 20% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 24% | 19% |
| What stands out | Socorro | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.4% | 6.1% |
| More uninsured adults | 36.2% | 19.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here grew from 3,337 in 2013 to 4,352.
Most working residents leave Socorro for work: only 5% work in town. 21% of Socorro residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Socorro grew to 4,352 in 2023, 1,015 more than in 2013.
| Socorro | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 21% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $55,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 6.9% | 9.7% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.6% | 8.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Values rose 2.1% in the past year while the Texas typical home fell 1.5%. Home values rose 35% in five years, to about $210K, against 10% across Texas.
The typical Socorro home is worth about $210,000, 29% below the Texas typical home. The median rent in Socorro is $1,032 a month.
| Socorro | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 82% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,032 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The El Paso Intl Ap weather station, 14 miles away, records that about 117 days a year reach 90°, more than in 98% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 97.3°, hotter than in 98% of U.S. towns; January nights average 30.6°.
Socorro has mild winters and hot summers, with very little rain. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Socorro | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.2% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cougar Park | — | 9 |
| 2. Bulldog Championship Park | 0.2 mi | 6 |
| 3. Rio Vista Park | — | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 15.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 71% of Texas’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Socorro. Close and well known come first.
17 mi Stadium & arenaSun Bowl Stadium
23 mi Ancient siteHueco Tanks
22 mi State parkFranklin Mountains State Park
14 mi National MemorialChamizal National Memorial8K visitors a year
16 mi TheatrePlaza Theatre
21 mi Theme parkWestern PlaylandSun Bowl Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Hueco Tanks: Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0 · Franklin Mountains State Park: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0 · Chamizal National Memorial: Original uploader was Mosamiazaz at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Plaza Theatre: Donitza Marie, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Western Playland: Dimples915, CC BY-SA 3.0
4 within 15 miles of the center of Socorro
About 9 of every 100 Socorro residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
Where Socorro’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
City in Texas, United States
Socorro is a city in El Paso County, Texas, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Rio Grande southeast of El Paso, and on the border of Mexico. El Paso adjoins it on the west and the smaller city of San Elizario on the southeast; small unincorporated areas of El Paso County separate it from the nearby municipalities of Horizon City to the north and Clint to the east. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 34,306. By the 2010 census, the number had grown to 32,013. As of July 1, 2019, the population estimate for the city from the U.S. Census was 34,370. It is part of the El Paso Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is El Paso County's second-largest municipality, a…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Socorro.
| Town | TX rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socorro | #383 | C− | C | B | C+ | C− |
| El Paso | #475 | D | C− | C | C | C |
| San Elizario | #402 | C− | B | — | C− | D |
San Elizario reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Socorro with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Socorro grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #383 of 640 in Texas. It grades C− for health, B for safety and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
