Harlingen, TX — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Texas·Harlingen

Cameron County · Brownsville-Harlingen · population 72,234

Affordability
Harlingen, TX
Image: Wikipedia · Harlingen, Texas
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
58
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Harlingen stands

Steady, no major recent move.

Median home $198,776
1-year -1.3%
5-yr CAGR +5.0%
vs 5-yr peak -2.0%
Population +0.1%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2024-05$199k$116k$147k$179k$211k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
35/100
Car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
22/100
Transit limited
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
95/100
Excellent for remote work
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$1,135/mo$808$1,006$1,203202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent128132100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 14.6
Buy

At a 14.6 price-to-rent ratio, buying generally beats renting in Harlingen on a long-enough horizon. The headline math is that one year of mortgage payments approximates 14.6 years of rent — well below the 15+ threshold where ownership starts to dominate.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
43 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
65 · w22%
Distance from peak
78 · w18%
Population growth
48 · w16%
Rent YoY
57 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
60 · w10%
Long thesis

Harlingen offers a $198,776 median home with +5.0% annualized 5-year appreciation. Affordability + positive trend is one of the better risk/reward setups in US residential — small downside, room to compound.

Short thesis

Harlingen's bear case is the boring one: the cycle is real and any market that's run hard can stall. Watch for slowing population growth, rising days-on-market, or builder discounts as the early warning signals.

About Harlingen

Harlingen is a city in Cameron County, Texas, with an estimated population of 72,234. It anchors the Brownsville-Harlingen metro area. The median home value in Harlingen is $198,776 as of 2026-04, down 1.3% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +5.0% annual growth (-2.0% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Harlingen average $1,135 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+1.9%). The composite momentum score is 58 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Healthy 5-year run: +5.0% annualized over 5 years, outpacing US inflation.
●Held the highs: currently -2.0% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
●Cheap entry point: $198,776 median home is well below the US median of $355k — room to grow without overpaying.

▼ Bear case

○Local nuance: city-level data smooths over neighborhood differences. School zones, HOA rules, and street-level character matter — visit before deciding.

About Harlingen (Wikipedia)

Harlingen is a city in Cameron County, Texas. It is located in the central region of the Rio Grande Valley, about 30 miles (48 km) from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than 40 square miles (104 km2) and is the second-largest city in Cameron County, as well as the sixth-largest in the Rio Grande Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 71,892.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorNorma Sepulveda
Area40.63 sq mi
Elevation39 ft
Founded1904
Motto"The Capital of the Rio Grande Valley"
Densityauto/sq mi

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Cameron County right now.

NWS active alerts (TX)Texas Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Cameron County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Cities like Harlingen

Euless, TX56 · StableNorth Richland Hills, TX58 · StableWichita Falls, TX65 · RisingPharr, TX59 · Stable

Run the numbers for Harlingen

ToolCan I afford Harlingen?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Harlingen rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Harlingen to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolHarlingen cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
60° / 39°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
95° / 73°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
232
~64% of year
Annual precip
29″ rain
1″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
High
Tornado
Very high
Wildfire
Moderate
Earthquake
Low
Flood
Very high

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Harlingen listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Brownsville-Harlingen area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
64%
Moderate climate
Median household income
$73,000
Texas state median
Top industries (state-level)
Energy/Oil & GasTech (Austin)Healthcare

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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