Abilene vs Merkel

A side-by-side comparison of Abilene and Merkel: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Abilene has the higher population (127,130 vs 2,630 in Merkel). Abilene has the higher median household income ($62,720 vs $62,368 in Merkel). Abilene has the higher median home value ($178,900 vs $99,000 in Merkel).

Population, income & housing

	Abilene	Merkel
Population	127,130	2,630
Median age	32.8 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$62,720	$62,368
Median home value	$178,900	$99,000
Median gross rent	$1,106	$992
Housing units	52,729	1,084
Homeownership rate	55.6%	77.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.1%	12.6%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Abilene	Merkel
Population	124,156 → 127,130 (+2.4%)	2,609 → 2,630 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$50,659 → $62,720 (+23.8%)	$44,153 → $62,368 (+41.3%)
Median home value	$120,400 → $178,900 (+48.6%)	$63,100 → $99,000 (+56.9%)
Median gross rent	$924 → $1,106 (+19.7%)	$633 → $992 (+56.7%)

Abilene

Population

124,156127,130

Median household income

$50,659$62,720

Median home value

$120,400$178,900

Median gross rent

$924$1,106

Merkel

Population

2,6092,630

Median household income

$44,153$62,368

Median home value

$63,100$99,000

Median gross rent

$633$992

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Abilene	Merkel
Under 5	6.5%	6.8%
5 to 17	16.6%	23.0%
18 to 24	15.1%	4.2%
25 to 34	15.4%	13.6%
35 to 44	13.4%	14.3%
45 to 54	8.8%	11.6%
55 to 64	10.4%	9.1%
65 to 74	7.4%	10.6%
75 and over	6.3%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Abilene	Merkel
White (non-Hispanic)	57.3%	74.2%
Black or African American	9.9%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	2.3%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.8%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	26.9%	18.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Abilene	Merkel
No high school diploma	11.7%	7.8%
High school graduate	30.1%	48.3%
Some college or associate's	31.1%	31.3%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	8.2%
Graduate or professional degree	9.5%	4.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Abilene	Merkel
Drove alone	77.8%	76.4%
Carpooled	10.0%	14.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.4%
Walked	2.2%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.9%	4.8%
Other means	0.9%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Abilene	Merkel
1-unit, detached	69.7%	75.0%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.8%	9.9%
5 to 19 units	11.4%	0.7%
20 or more units	5.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	14.4%

Poverty & households

	Abilene	Merkel
Poverty rate	14.8%	14.5%
Average household size	2.46	2.82
Mean commute (minutes)	15	33
Median year structure built	1974	1963