Brownsville vs Harlingen

A side-by-side comparison of Brownsville and Harlingen: population, income, housing, and more.

Brownsville and Harlingen are places in Texas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Brownsville has the higher population (188,023 vs 71,669 in Harlingen). Harlingen has the higher median household income ($55,891 vs $48,675 in Brownsville). Harlingen has the higher median home value ($125,700 vs $122,400 in Brownsville).

Population, income & housing

	Brownsville	Harlingen
Population	188,023	71,669
Median age	30.9 yrs	33.2 yrs
Median household income	$48,675	$55,891
Median home value	$122,400	$125,700
Median gross rent	$906	$893
Housing units	63,750	29,487
Homeownership rate	59.9%	57.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.3%	21.7%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brownsville	Harlingen
Population	182,271 → 188,023 (+3.2%)	65,129 → 71,669 (+10.0%)
Median household income	$38,588 → $48,675 (+26.1%)	$39,752 → $55,891 (+40.6%)
Median home value	$90,000 → $122,400 (+36.0%)	$87,500 → $125,700 (+43.7%)
Median gross rent	$736 → $906 (+23.1%)	$737 → $893 (+21.2%)

Brownsville

Population

182,271188,023

Median household income

$38,588$48,675

Median home value

$90,000$122,400

Median gross rent

$736$906

Harlingen

Population

65,12971,669

Median household income

$39,752$55,891

Median home value

$87,500$125,700

Median gross rent

$737$893

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brownsville	Harlingen
Under 5	7.5%	7.5%
5 to 17	21.6%	21.5%
18 to 24	12.2%	8.0%
25 to 34	13.5%	15.3%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.2%
45 to 54	11.4%	10.6%
55 to 64	8.9%	9.3%
65 to 74	7.4%	9.4%
75 and over	5.2%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brownsville	Harlingen
White (non-Hispanic)	4.2%	14.5%
Black or African American	0.3%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.8%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.3%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	94.2%	82.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brownsville	Harlingen
No high school diploma	29.2%	21.4%
High school graduate	24.8%	27.5%
Some college or associate's	23.7%	29.5%
Bachelor's degree	15.8%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	8.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brownsville	Harlingen
Drove alone	76.6%	78.8%
Carpooled	12.2%	9.4%
Public transit	0.8%	0.1%
Walked	1.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.3%
Worked from home	7.7%	9.1%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brownsville	Harlingen
1-unit, detached	67.7%	59.7%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	10.6%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	11.5%
20 or more units	9.2%	4.8%
Mobile home & other	5.2%	10.4%

Poverty & households

	Brownsville	Harlingen
Poverty rate	24.9%	24.5%
Average household size	3.19	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	21	18
Median year structure built	1993	1987