Abilene, Texas population is 131,588 as of July 1, 2025 (U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimate), ranking #221 nationally and #29 in Texas. Cost of living runs 9.6% below the U.S. average (BEA RPP 2024); a family of four needs roughly $74,828/yr to break even (2025 modeled). This profile draws on 13 federal datasets covering population, housing, income, employment, climate, and risk.
At a glance.
2025 population
131,588
+1,452 in the last year
Top 2% of 19,483 U.S. cities
Census Vintage 2025
Cost of living
RPP 90.4
−9.6% vs US
Abilene, TX metro · BEA 2024
Family-of-4 budget
$74,828/yr
−6.6% vs US
Modeled 2025 · federal sources
Median HH income
$62,648
−19% vs US
ACS 2020–2024 5-yr
Median home value
$183,700
−39% vs US
ACS 2020–2024 5-yr
2-BR fair-market rent
$1,276/mo
HUD FY2026 · 40th pct
Avg July high
96°F
NOAA 1991–2020
Gigabit broadband
90%
ISP-reported, FCC BDC
Explore Abilene, TX demographics, including age, race and ethnicity, households, origins, language, and education.
How many people live in Abilene?
131,588 people live in Abilene as of July 1, 2025 (U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025), the #221 largest U.S. city.
How big is Abilene?
Abilene covers 106.7 square miles of land and 5.4 square miles of water. Its population density is about 1,234 residents per square mile of land. Compare U.S. cities by land area →
Source detail: 2025 population
2025 population
Source agency
U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division
Dataset
Census PEP
Vintage / period
Vintage 2025 (Jul 1, 2025)
Native geography
Census PEP subcounty place records for the included city universe.
Transformation
Copied from POPESTIMATE2025, joined by Census GEOID, and used for ranks, filters, and city pages.
Known limit: Annual estimate, not a decennial count; each new PEP vintage can revise the prior series.
Population grew 5.3% from the April 2020 base to mid-2025.
Vintage 2025 · annual estimates
Recent history (V2025 series, 2020 base → 2025).
2020 base: 124,970 → 2025: 131,588 (+5.3%)
Year
Population
Reference date
2020 base
124,970
April 1, 2020
2020
125,194
July 1, 2020
2021
125,883
July 1, 2021
2022
127,376
July 1, 2022
2023
129,167
July 1, 2023
2024
130,136
July 1, 2024
2025
131,588
July 1, 2025
Earlier history (2010–2019, prior Census vintage)
These figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2019 release — a separate, earlier methodology. They’re shown here as historical context only; the 2010 and 2019 values aren’t directly comparable to the 2020–2025 series above.
Population grew 4.8% from the July 2010 estimate to 2019 (V2019 — see seam note below).
Abilene is the #221 largest of 19,483 U.S. cities and #29 in Texas.
▸Show the analyst detail (9 rows)
Measure
Value
Note
2020 base
124,970
April 1, 2020 census base
5-yr change
+6,618
2020 base → 2025; within V2025
5-yr change %
+5.3%
within V2025 only
1-yr change
+1,452
2024 → 2025 estimate
1-yr change %
+1.1%
within V2025 only
Density
1,234
people per sq mi, land only
Land area
106.7
sq mi (2025 Gazetteer)
U.S. rank by population
#221
of 19,483 cities
State rank by population
#29
of 1,224 in Texas
What is the median household income in Abilene?
Median household income is 19% below the U.S. median ($62,648 vs $77,719); 16.1% live in poverty — 3.6 points above the 12.5% U.S. rate.
Median household income$62,648
US
Abilene: $62,648 — 19% below the US median of $77,719.
Scale: 10th–90th percentile of cities with ACS income data
Abilene
$62,648
United States
$77,719
Income and poverty estimates for Abilene from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates (window 2020–2024). Every figure is shown with its 90% margin of error (MOE). Cells where the ± margin exceeds half the estimate are flagged "low precision." See methodology §12.
Measure
Estimate
± margin / note
Median household income
62,648-19.4% vs US
±2,072
Per capita income
31,321-27.6% vs US
±1,130
Population in poverty
16.1%
share of population for whom poverty status is determined
Median home value is 39% below the U.S. median ($183,700 vs $303,400); median rent is 14% below ($1,157 vs $1,348); price-to-income ratio is 2.9×, making it 1.3× as affordable as the typical U.S. city (3.9×).
Median home value$183,700
US
Abilene: $183,700 — 39% below the US median of $303,400.
Scale: 10th–90th percentile of cities with ACS home-value data
HUD 2-BR fair-market rent$1,276/mo
US
Abilene: $1,276/mo — 18% above the US median of $1,077/mo.
Scale: 10th–90th percentile of cities with a HUD Fair Market Rent
Poverty (Census SAIPE 2024, model-based), unemployment (BLS LAUS 2024 annual averages), and remote-work share (ACS 2020–2024) for Abilene. Numbers are labeled at their native grain — place-grain when BLS publishes it, otherwise per-county. We do not compute population-weighted county averages. See methodology §13.
Measure
Value
Grain
Unemployment rate (annual avg)
3.5%
Abilene (BLS sub-state LAUS)
Civilian labor force
61,458
2024 annual avg
Worked from home
8.4%-40.1% vs US
share of workers 16+ commuting from home · U.S. median: 14% · ACS
County context — Abilene spans 2 counties; all are listed (no weighted average):
County
Poverty rate
Median HH income
Unemployment
Jones County
22.7%
$59,076
3.7%
Taylor County
14.8%
$64,490
3.4%
Top industries by private employment — NAICS supersectors rolled up from Abilene's linked 2 counties in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW, 2024 annual averages). See methodology §11.
#
Industry (NAICS supersector)
Private employment
Avg weekly wage
#1
Health care and social assistance (62)
12,208
$1,289 / wk
#2
Retail trade (44-45)
8,647
$780 / wk
#3
Accommodation and food services (72)
7,509
$431 / wk
#4
Administrative and waste services (56)
3,556
$1,108 / wk
#5
Construction (23)
3,448
$1,258 / wk
What workers earn in the Abilene, TX metro — top occupations by employment plus six curated benchmarks (registered nurse, software developer, elementary teacher, general manager, retail salesperson, truck driver). Wages are metro-area medians from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). See methodology §25.
Fast Food and Counter Workers is the largest tracked occupation in the Abilene, TX metro (2,930 jobs, median $26,310/yr).
▸Show all 12 occupations
Occupation
Employment
Median annual
Median hourly
Fast Food and Counter Workers
2,930
$26,310
$12.65
Customer Service Representatives
2,550
$36,830
$17.71
Home Health and Personal Care Aides
1,820
$23,690
$11.39
Cashiers
1,780
$27,130
$13.04
Stockers and Order Fillers
1,380
$34,200
$16.44
Office Clerks, General
1,110
$37,410
$17.99
General and Operations Managers · benchmark
2,120
$86,200
$41.44
Retail Salespersons · benchmark
2,000
$29,530
$14.20
Registered Nurses · benchmark
1,680
$80,240
$38.58
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers · benchmark
1,090
$54,720
$26.31
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education · benchmark
All items run 9.6% below the U.S. average (RPP 90.4); rents run 26.2% below (RPP 73.8) — the metro's housing affordability is the main driver.
Cost of living (RPP, all items)RPP 90.4
US
Abilene's cost of living runs 9.6% below the U.S. average (RPP 90.4 vs 100).
Scale: 10th–90th percentile of metro/non-metro areas with a BEA price parity
BEA Regional Price Parity (all items)
RPP 90.4
−9.6% vs U.S. average · BEA 2024 · Abilene, TX metro
HUD Fair Market Rent, 2-BR
$1,276/mo
FY2026 · Abilene, TX MSA
State income tax (top marginal rate)
0%
no state income tax · TY2025
Family-of-four monthly budget total
$6,236/mo
3BR rent + food + childcare + taxes + transport · federal sources
Single-adult monthly budget total
$3,823/mo
1BR rent + food + taxes + transport · federal sources
Local income tax
—
not applicable in Texas · no modeled local income tax
Household budget figures are arithmetic floors using current federal sources at the grains documented in methodology. Not a recommended salary, not a poverty threshold, not a composite score.
7.4% foreign-born (U.S. median 14%); Spanish is the most-spoken language at home other than English (14.1% of residents 5+).
A quick read on Abilene's residents — nativity and languages spoken at home shown above, from the ACS 5-Year 2020–2024. The full demographic breakdown (age, race and ethnicity, household types, and educational attainment, each with its margin of error) lives on the demographics page.
These are K-12 public school districts. Higher education (colleges and universities) is not represented in this dataset.
6 districts serve Abilene, from the NCES EDGE Geographic Relationship Files (GRF25, 2024–25 school year boundaries). The join is many-to-many — large cities often span multiple districts. Expand the list below to see every district sorted primary first. See methodology §12.
Source: NCES EDGE GRF25 · school year 2024–25 · methodology →
What is the climate like in Abilene?
Hottest month: July (96°F avg high). Coldest: January (32°F avg low). Annual precipitation: 25.7 in.
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) for Abilene from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. See methodology §15 for the gridded vs. station source path.
Average monthly highs & lows · 30-year normal (NOAA 1991–2020). Every number on this chart is an average.
bar = avg daily high → avg daily lowprecip in inches below each barprecip in millimeters below each bar
Composite risk spans 37.9–83.8/100 across 2 counties; most-cited top hazard is Hail (in all 2).
Natural-hazard exposure for Abilene from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index (FEMA NRI December 2025 v1.20.0). NRI is an expected-annual-loss composite calibrated on 1996–2019 historical losses, published at the U.S. county grain. See methodology §17.
Abilene spans 2 counties. We list each separately because hurricane, flood, and fire risk varies meaningfully across county lines — manufacturing a single “city-level” risk score would hide that signal.
Hail 99.3 Very High · Winter Weather 94.2 Relatively High · Wildfire 89.7 Relatively Moderate
Source: FEMA National Risk Index · FEMA NRI December 2025 v1.20.0 · methodology →
How fast is home internet in Abilene?
13 non-satellite ISPs serve the area; 90% of locations have gigabit-capable service per ISP filings.
Fixed broadband availability for Abilene from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Data Collection (BDC), as of June 30, 2025. Every speed and provider count below is an ISP-reported advertised maximum — not measured throughput. Actual delivered speeds typically run 60–80% of advertised. See methodology §16.
Measure
Value
Note
Providers serving this city
13 + satellite
distinct ISPs, excluding satellite-only
Fiber providers
10
offer fiber-to-the-premises somewhere in the BDC
Units with ≥100/20 Mbps fixed
100.0%
share of broadband-serviceable units, ISP-reported max
Locations with ≥100 Mbps upload
89.5%
derived: max(fiber ≥100/20, gigabit). Fiber is symmetric; gigabit is ≥100 up by definition
Units with ≥1 Gbps fixed
89.5%
share of broadband-serviceable units, ISP-reported max
Total broadband-serviceable units
60,333
residential locations in the FCC Fabric (not households)
Source: FCC BDC · as of June 30, 2025 · methodology →
In-state context.
Abilene sits at state rank #29 among 1,224 cities in Texas. Nearby in the state ranking:
Just above in the profiled set: Santa Clara, CA · #220 · 133,446 residents.
Just below in the profiled set: Norman, OK · #222 · 130,943 residents.
Quick travel facts for Abilene
Quick travel facts.
Nearest commercial airport
Abilene Regional Airport(ABI) · 4 mi 7 km from city centroid
Best months to visit
Mar, Nov · months when the avg high sits in 65–80°F and precipitation is at or below the city's median monthly precip
Sources: elevation from USGS Elevation Point Query Service (3DEP) · nearest airport from OurAirports CSV (FAA-aligned, type=large/medium, scheduled_service=yes) · best months derived from NOAA 1991-2020 normals · methodology →
Frequently asked questions about Abilene.
How many people live in Abilene, TX?
Abilene has 131,588 residents as of July 1, 2025, making it the #221 largest city in the United States and #29 in Texas. Source: U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025.
Is Abilene growing or shrinking?
Abilene has grown 5.3% since the April 2020 census baseline, adding 6,618 residents, including a 1.1% increase from 2024 to 2025. Source: Census PEP Vintage 2025.
Abilene spans Jones County, Taylor County in Texas.
How big is Abilene?
Abilene covers 106.7 square miles of land, with a population density of about 1,234 residents per square mile. Source: Census Gazetteer 2025.
What is the median household income in Abilene?
$62,648, about 19% below the U.S. median. Source: ACS 5-year estimates, 2020–2024.
SourceU.S. Census · PEP
VintageV2025
Reference2025-07-01
Place typeIncorporated place
GEOID4801000
Last build2026-08-27
Sources · provenance
Every listed dataset is used on this page.
The GEOID for Abilene is 4801000. These are the official datasets used by this profile's main data modules; click "methodology" for inclusion rules and the V2019 ↔ V2025 seam, or "source" for the raw publisher page. The headline population value above includes a source-detail disclosure with publisher, dataset, vintage, native geography, transformation, and caveat.
