ZIP code 78573

ZIP 78573 is a small city in Hidalgo County, Texas, with 42,874 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #199 of 1,989 ranked by population — larger than 90% of them. The median age here is 28.7 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 78573 earn a median of $51,185 a year, 34.8% below the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 24% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 78573 is valued at $154,800, 49% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $909 a month, 35.3% below the national figure, or roughly $10,908 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 21.3% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 69.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

A median age of 28.7 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address.

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.

ZIP 78573 is tabulated inside Hidalgo County, Texas, one of 29 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 1,989 across Texas. This is a dense urban ZIP, where a single postal boundary can hold more residents than an entire rural county. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 78573 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 78573 reports a median household income of $51,185, close to the $51,366 county median, and 25% below the $68,103 typical TX ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $154,800, 35% above the county figure and 21% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $909 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Texas charges 6.25% statewide, and local governments overlapping 78573 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 78573 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.