SparksTX
A town in Texas, home to 4,134 people.
Is Sparks a good place to live?
More weak spots than strong ones. The weak point is incomes (D): the median household income is $35K, and 52% of residents live below the poverty line. It lags on walkability as well. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 89% of U.S. towns. Where it does best is hazard risk (A). Homes run about $173K for a typical one, 2.9 times the El Paso metro’s $60K median household income. Overall, that makes a D, good for 555th of 640 in Texas. On that grade it does better than 6% of U.S. towns.
Figures: FEMA National Risk Index · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow.
What makes Sparks stand out
Where Sparks beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Sparks for work
Where Sparks’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Sparks grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Sparks is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Sun Bowl Stadium and 14 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Sparks. Close and well known come first.
17 mi Stadium & arenaSun Bowl Stadium
21 mi Ancient siteHueco Tanks
21 mi State parkFranklin Mountains State Park
14 mi National MemorialChamizal National Memorial8K visitors a year
16 mi TheatrePlaza Theatre
21 mi Theme parkWestern PlaylandPhoto credits
Sun 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
Moving to Sparks: who provides what
Sparks is unincorporated, so El Paso County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 Sparks.
Sparks carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Texas (mostly inland flooding), has more 90° days than nearly all U.S. towns and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
Very low risk in Sparks, with inland flooding at the top
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 90% of Texas towns, with expected losses of about $180 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
51% of Sparks’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by heat waves at 17%. The risk rating from FEMA in the town is 14 of 100.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Sparks’ grade for cost of living is a C+
Values rose 3.6% in the past year while the Texas typical home fell 1.5%. Home values rose 33% in five years, to about $173K, against 10% across Texas.
Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 3.6% in value. 66% of Sparks households own their home. The median rent for Sparks comes to $1,080 a month, where Texas’ towns sit at $1,208 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month.
| Sparks | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 66% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,080 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
A larger share of residents live below the poverty line in Sparks than in most of Texas or the rest of the country
Sparks has 496 jobs for its 2,317 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 20.6 minutes, against 26.7 across Texas.
In Sparks, the typical journey to work is 21 minutes. 0.6% of Sparks working residents work locally, below both Texas’ towns (8.3%) and U.S. towns (8%). The top destinations are El Paso (71%), Horizon City (3%) and Socorro (2%). The median commute is under 10 miles.
| Sparks | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 52% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.6% | 8.3% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
On CDC estimates, Sparks is less healthy than 74% of U.S. towns
Against the 1,230 U.S. towns with household incomes like Sparks’s, it is healthier than 88%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
A fifth of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Sparks. On the CDC’s 31 measures, Sparks is ahead of Texas on 2 and behind on 11. Two figures for adults locally: 28% worry about having enough food, 36% get no exercise outside work.
| Sparks | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 18% | 8.1% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 24% | 19% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 20% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 30% | 25% |
| What stands out | Sparks | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 3.9% | 6.1% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 19.1% | 21.6% |
| More uninsured adults | 33.5% | 19.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expect mild winters and hot summers in Sparks
The El Paso Intl Ap weather station, 12 miles away, records that about 117 days a year reach 90°, more than in 98% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 96°, hotter than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 31.5°.
For Sparks, the typical July afternoon high is 96°F. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Sparks | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 96°F | 95°F | 85°F |
| January low | 32°F | 37°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Conservation land takes up 0.2% of Sparks
Just 2 of its 893 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Sparks itself; its outdoors grade is D.
Parks and preserves in Sparks: one, of 3 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sparks Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Sparks
Colleges nearby
4 within 15 miles of the center of Sparks
About 13 of every 100 Sparks residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
About Sparks
Census-designated place in Texas, United States
Sparks is a census-designated place (CDP) in El Paso County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Sparks had a population of 4,760. It is part of the El Paso Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.4 sq mi
- Elevation
- 3,812 ft
Questions about Sparks
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Sparks, TX a good place to live?
Sparks grades D overall, better than 6% of U.S. towns and #555 of 640 in Texas. It grades C for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Sparks, 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 C+.