County Polk County, Texas - Population, Income & Demographics

The median income of households in Polk County, Texas was $59,066. An estimated 6.3% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 4.8% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 68.4% of households received earnings. An estimated 44.6% of households received Social Security and an estimated 28.8 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $21,871. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2019-2023, 18.1 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 30.3% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 11.4% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 15.8% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2019-2023, 16.5 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 60.2% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 36% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 29.5% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in Polk County, Texas in 2019-2023, 84.2% had health insurance coverage and 15.8% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 57.1% and public coverage was 42.5%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 10.5%.

In 2019-2023, Polk County, Texas had a total population of 51,780 - 23,945 (46.2%) females and 27,835 (53.8%) males. The median age was 43.9 years. An estimated 20.4% of the population was under 18 years, 29% was 19 to 44 years, 29.9% was 45 to 64 years, and 18.9 % was 65 years and older.

In 2019-2023, there were 18,575 households in Polk County, Texas. The average household size was 2.59 people.

Married-couple households made up 51% of the households in Polk County, Texas while cohabiting couple households made up 7.5% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 23.6% of all households, while 17.9% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 12.9% of households were male householders living alone, and 11.9% were female householders living alone, for a total of 24.8% of all households.

In Polk County, Texas, 30.2% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 37.8% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2019-2023, an estimated 95.4% of the people living in Polk County, Texas were U.S. natives. 72% of the Polk County, Texas population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 4.6% of Polk County, Texas residents in 2019-2023 were foreign-born. 46.4% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 84.7 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of Polk County, Texas come from different parts of the world. The bar graph below displays the percentage of foreign-born from each world region of birth in 2019-2023 for Polk County, Texas.

Among people at least five years old living in Polk County, Texas in 2019-2023, 12.8 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 11.4% of people at least five years old; 3.8% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2019-2023, 80 % of the people at least one year old living in Polk County, Texas were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2019-2023, 81.8 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 13.4% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 18.3% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in Polk County, Texas was 9,737 in 2019-2023. Nursery school enrollment was 736 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 7,514. College or graduate school enrollment was 1,487.

In Polk County, Texas, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2019-2023, 23.7 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 11.6% of people under 18 years old, to 21.4% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 44.2% of those 65 and over.

In Polk County, Texas, 43.8 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 51.8% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 72.8% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 18.6% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 7.9 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2019-2023, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in Polk County, Texas worked in the following industries:

An estimated 81.2% of Polk County, Texas workers drove to work alone in 2019-2023, and 9% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 30.5 minutes to get to work.

In 2019-2023, Polk County, Texas had a total of 25,677 housing units. Of these housing units, 68.8% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 5.4% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 24.4% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

15.6% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 2.4% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Polk County, Texas was 4.8 rooms, and of these housing units 62.1% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2019-2023, Polk County, Texas had 18,575 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 7,102 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 77.5% while renters occupied 22.5%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.6 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.58.

10% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 6.3% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 3.4% and another 23.6% had three or more vehicles available for use.

The following chart provides the primary fuel used to heat houses in Polk County, Texas:

In 2019-2023, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Polk County, Texas was $154,000.

Of the owner-occupied households, 36.1 % had a mortgage. 63.9% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $1,377 and for owners without a mortgage it was $468.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for Polk County, Texas was $1,009. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house.