Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,939, settled in 1904.
Taft grades D overall, ranked 479th of 640 in Texas, mostly because of health and schools. Residents are less healthy than 93% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its schools rank behind 86% of the state's. One bright spot: 4% of its land is conserved. Only 97 of Texas’ 1,000 towns score lower on hazard risk. Taft’s January low is 47°F, where Texas’ towns sit at 37°F and U.S. towns at 22°F. Taft has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Taft Public Housing Development (North) and Taft Public Housing Development (South).
Where Taft’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Texas), ordered by how far Taft is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,792 in 1930, 2,801 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1922 and 4 maps from 1925 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Taft, 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 Taft.
Taft has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns and fares better on crime within Texas than nationally, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Texas (mostly hurricanes).
36% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Taft. Taft beats the Texas average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 20. 43% of adults get no exercise outside work in Taft.
| Taft | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 24% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 13% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 30% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 20% | 14% |
| What stands out | Taft | TX |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 14% | 17% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 39.8% | 19.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by Taft ISD. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ricardo L Trevino J HLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 173 | C |
| Taft H SLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 249 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TX on state tests and graduation
At 2.1 years of the Corpus Christi metro’s $67K median household income, the typical home (about $144K) costs less against local pay than in 91% of Texas towns; that ratio is one input to its B for cost of living. Values rose 4.6% in the past year while the Texas typical home fell 1.5%.
The typical Taft home is worth about $144,000, 51% below the Texas typical home.
| Taft | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 69% | 69% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,179 a month | $1,208 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most working residents leave Taft for work: only 10% work in town. 21% of Taft residents live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Corpus Christi (29%), Ingleside (7%) and Portland (7%).
| Taft | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 21% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 10% | 8.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 91% of Texas towns, with expected losses of about $663 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Taft is 77 of 100.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Sinton weather station, 10 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 324 days, longer than in 96% of U.S. towns. The Sinton weather station, 10 miles away, records that about 113 days a year reach 90°, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Taft has warm winters and hot summers. Taft’s July high is 93°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 14.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 75% of Texas’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
| Taft | Texas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 4.4% | 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. Taft City Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Taft. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi MuseumUSS Lexington
12 mi Zoo & aquariumTexas State Aquarium
31 mi National SeashorePadre Island National Seashore573K visitors a year
12 mi MuseumArt Museum of South Texas
23 mi GardenSouth Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature CenterUSS Lexington: USN, Public domain · Texas State Aquarium: Smcafee87, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Padre Island National Seashore: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain · Art Museum of South Texas: Jim Evans, CC BY-SA 4.0 · South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center: Phil Slattery, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Taft
About 4 of every 100 Taft residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Texas.
2 places in Taft on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Texas, United States
Taft is a city in San Patricio County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,801 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Taft.
| Town | TX rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taft | #479 | D | B | B | D | D |
| Taft Southwest | — | — | B+ | — | D | D |
Taft Southwest has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Taft Southwest reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Taft with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Taft grades D overall, better than 11% of U.S. towns and #479 of 640 in Texas. It grades D for health, B for safety and D for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 2.1 years of the area's median household income ($67,453 across the Corpus Christi, 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.
2 notable people were born here, including William D. Wittliff and Brian Bonner.
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