McAllen vs Pharr

A side-by-side comparison of McAllen and Pharr: population, income, housing, and more.

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

McAllen has the higher population (143,789 vs 79,809 in Pharr). McAllen has the higher median household income ($60,165 vs $49,884 in Pharr). McAllen has the higher median home value ($173,800 vs $111,500 in Pharr).

Population, income & housing

	McAllen	Pharr
Population	143,789	79,809
Median age	34.0 yrs	29.5 yrs
Median household income	$60,165	$49,884
Median home value	$173,800	$111,500
Median gross rent	$1,017	$990
Housing units	54,461	26,519
Homeownership rate	59.0%	58.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.0%	17.5%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	McAllen	Pharr
Population	141,968 → 143,789 (+1.3%)	78,073 → 79,809 (+2.2%)
Median household income	$46,804 → $60,165 (+28.5%)	$39,884 → $49,884 (+25.1%)
Median home value	$126,000 → $173,800 (+37.9%)	$80,900 → $111,500 (+37.8%)
Median gross rent	$789 → $1,017 (+28.9%)	$752 → $990 (+31.6%)

McAllen

Population

141,968143,789

Median household income

$46,804$60,165

Median home value

$126,000$173,800

Median gross rent

$789$1,017

Pharr

Population

78,07379,809

Median household income

$39,884$49,884

Median home value

$80,900$111,500

Median gross rent

$752$990

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	McAllen	Pharr
Under 5	7.0%	8.3%
5 to 17	20.6%	24.6%
18 to 24	9.7%	11.1%
25 to 34	14.1%	14.2%
35 to 44	13.3%	12.9%
45 to 54	12.4%	11.1%
55 to 64	9.4%	7.1%
65 to 74	8.1%	5.9%
75 and over	5.4%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	McAllen	Pharr
White (non-Hispanic)	8.6%	4.6%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	2.9%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.6%	0.1%
Hispanic or Latino	86.5%	95.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	McAllen	Pharr
No high school diploma	20.1%	30.1%
High school graduate	20.7%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	27.1%	25.1%
Bachelor's degree	20.3%	12.9%
Graduate or professional degree	11.7%	4.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	McAllen	Pharr
Drove alone	72.2%	77.8%
Carpooled	10.4%	11.7%
Public transit	0.5%	0.2%
Walked	0.9%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.5%	6.2%
Other means	4.3%	3.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	McAllen	Pharr
1-unit, detached	65.2%	58.2%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	11.2%	15.6%
5 to 19 units	9.7%	4.5%
20 or more units	5.6%	1.9%
Mobile home & other	4.1%	17.1%

Poverty & households

	McAllen	Pharr
Poverty rate	20.2%	29.8%
Average household size	2.96	3.43
Mean commute (minutes)	21	22
Median year structure built	1993	2001