Texas · Census place 47796
Merkel, TX population, income and ZIP codes
Quick answer
The population of the city of Merkel, Texas (Merkel, TX — Census place “Merkel town”) is 2,630 residents, ranking #630 of 1863 places in Texas. Median household income is $62,368, the median home is worth $99,000 and median gross rent runs $992 a month. Looking for the Merkel Texas ZIP code list? 1 ZIP codes serve Merkel, TX: 79536.
- Population
- 2,630Merkel town residents
- Median household income
- $62,368Past 12 months, inflation adjusted
- Median home value
- $99,000Owner-occupied units
- Median gross rent
- $992Rent plus utilities, monthly
- Median age
- 36.2 yrsAll residents
- Homeownership rate
- 77.4%Owner-occupied households
Merkel ZIP codes (Texas)
Census ZCTAs whose delivery area overlaps Merkel.
The Merkel TX ZIP code list below covers 1 ZIP code. Open any one for its population, income, housing and rent profile.
What the numbers mean in Merkel town
Housing cost measured against local earnings.
A household earning the Merkel town median would spend about 19.1% of gross income on the median rent. The 30% mark is the federal threshold for cost burden, so anything above it signals a stretched rental market. The median home costs 1.6× the median household income; nationally that ratio sits near 4.5×. Poverty affects 14.5% of residents and 77.4% of households own their home.
Source: US Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates · rates as published for 2019-2023 ACS 5-year
Merkel town, TX in context
How this area compares with national benchmarks.
Merkel town is a small town in Texas, with 2,630 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #630 of 1,863 ranked by population — larger than 66% of them. The median age here is 36.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.
Households in Merkel town earn a median of $62,368 a year, 20.6% below the national figure of $78,538 and 4% below the $64,654 median for the 1,008 Texas cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 14.5% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.
The typical owner-occupied home in Merkel town is valued at $99,000, 67.4% below the national figure and 45% below the $179,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $992 a month, 29.4% below the national figure, or roughly $11,904 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 1.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 77.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.
No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.
Compare with nearby places
Places of similar size in Texas.
- Troy city 2,628
- Briarcliff village 2,630
- Pottsboro town 2,624
- Overton city 2,633
- Floydada city 2,618
- Shadybrook CDP 2,649
- Westworth Village city 2,618
- Anahuac city 2,652
Keep going
More Texas coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about this area.
- What is the population of Merkel town?
- Merkel town has 2,630 residents on Census ACS 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, ranking #630 of 1,863 in Texas.
- What is the median household income in Merkel town?
- Median household income in Merkel town is $62,368 a year, 20.6% below the national figure of $78,538.
- How much does it cost to rent or buy in Merkel town?
- Median gross rent is $992 a month and the median home value is $99,000, so rent absorbs about 19.1% of median household income.
- Is Merkel town affordable compared with the rest of the US?
- Homes cost about 1.6× the local median income here versus roughly 3.9× nationally, so Merkel town is more affordable to buy in than the typical US market, and rent takes 19.1% of median income against the 30% cost-burden line.
- How current is this Merkel town data?
- All figures come from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year five-year estimates. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.