Bell County · Killeen-Temple · population 96,267
Where Temple stands
Population growing 4.1% per year.
Home value trajectory · last 10 years
Zillow ZHVI · monthlyLifestyle scores
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 · monthlyHome value vs rent · indexed to 100
Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)Rent vs buy
At a 14.4 price-to-rent ratio, buying generally beats renting in Temple on a long-enough horizon. The headline math is that one year of mortgage payments approximates 14.4 years of rent — well below the 15+ threshold where ownership starts to dominate.
How the momentum score breaks down
methodology →Temple has held up across the cycle: home values at $250,559 with +4.4% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.
Temple'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 Temple
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, with an estimated population of 96,267. It anchors the Killeen-Temple metro area. The population has grown 4.1% per year on average between 2020 and 2024 — among the faster-growing communities in the state. The median home value in Temple is $250,559 as of 2026-04, down 2.2% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +4.4% annual growth (-9.8% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Temple average $1,448 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+0.2%). The composite momentum score is 57 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.
▲ Bull case
▼ Bear case
About Temple (Wikipedia)
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the city has a population of 82,073 according to the U.S. census. Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas and is a principal city in the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan area, which as of the 2020 Census had a population of 475,367. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles (105 km) north of Austin, 34 miles (55 km) south of Waco and 27 miles east of Killeen.
Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.
City facts
Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.
Playbook
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.
Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.
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 Bell County right now.
Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Bell County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.
Cities like Temple
Run the numbers for Temple
Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.
Climate & natural-disaster risk
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
Find rentals & listings
Open current Temple listings on the major real-estate sites.
Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.
Local news & community
Latest news
- Two men arrested on child endangerment charges after Temple welfare check uncovers unsafe conditionskcentv.com · 11h ago
- Kristen McDaris Obituary – Temple, TXDignity Memorial · 4d ago
- Soros-Funded Indivisible Targets Texas Data Centers In Temple, TexasYahoo · 2d ago
- Temple residents near deadline for recall petition over data center developmentsKXXV · 2d ago
- Downed power lines block Temple streetFOX 44 · 15h ago
- 'We should be able to vote on this' | Temple residents push recall of city council over data center planskcentv.com · 1d ago
Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.
Local sports teams
Major professional teams the Killeen-Temple area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.
Local economy & environment
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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