Telephone, TX

The affordability dashboard for Telephone, TX aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 1,161 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (49/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $54,700, median home value of $206,300, median rent of — per month, and 15.8% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $985 per month (studio $679, 1BR $751, 3BR $1,370, 4BR $1,652). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $7,176 per year, consuming 13% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for Telephone, TX include rent. Pressure points are education. Unemployment currently reads 6.4% and poverty 26.7% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.