College Station

College Station grew up around Texas A&M University, founded here in 1876, and the university still shapes nearly everything about the city — its economy, its calendar, and its character. It's home to more than 124,000 residents, with a mix of established neighborhoods, newer master-planned communities, and everything from student housing near campus to golf-course living on the edges of town. The citywide median household income (around $50,900) is pulled down by Texas A&M's tens of thousands of students — in established family neighborhoods like Pebble Creek and Emerald Forest, household incomes run closer to $88,000.

The city is zoned to College Station ISD, and neighborhoods range widely depending on how close you want to be to campus and game-day energy versus a quieter, more established feel. West and south of campus — areas like Pebble Creek, Castlegate, and Emerald Forest — skew toward families and established, tree-lined streets, while the areas nearest campus stay busiest around football season.

College Station isn't just growing — it's getting recognized for it, and the numbers back up why buyers and investors keep looking here.

• Ranked No. 25 on Livability's 2026 list of the Best Places to Live in the U.S. — up nine spots from the year before — with a No. 20 national ranking for safety and No. 13 for education.
• Named the No. 3 best-performing large city in Texas by the Milken Institute (2026).
• Texas A&M drove a $3.5 billion economic impact across the Brazos Valley in FY 2022–23, accounting for 18.2% of the region's gross regional product and supporting one in four local jobs.
• Unemployment sits near 3.5%, among the lowest in Texas, while the Bryan-College Station metro has added nearly 20,000 new residents since 2020.
• Home values across the College Station-Bryan metro are up roughly 48% over the past five years and nearly 87% over the past decade, per Federal Housing Finance Agency data.