What it's like to live in Roma
Roma is a small city in Texas with home prices that remain within reach, crime rates well below the national average, and schools with smaller class sizes than the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.
The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Roma deals with county unemployment above the national average, household incomes below the national average, college degree attainment below the national average, and a poverty rate above the national average.
The good
- Affordable home prices
- Low crime rates
- Low student-teacher ratio
The not so good
- Above-average unemployment in the county
- Below-average household incomes
- Low college degree attainment
- High poverty rate
- High rent burden for renters
- Very hot summers
How Roma compares
Median household income
Median home value
What it takes to move to Roma
Based on Roma's median rent, home value and household income
To buy
$18,880
a 20% down payment on the median home
- With 10% down: $9,440
- Homes cost 3.8× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)
Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.
The details
Job market
9.5% county unemployment
Unemployment in Starr County is 9.5%, well above the national average of 4.3%. Moving with a job already lined up matters more here. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.
Starr County (county-wide)
Safety▼ 40% below US
197 violent crimes per 100k
Pretty safe, all things considered. Violent crime sits below the national average, nothing alarming, just ordinary city-life awareness.
Property crime 909/100k · Roma Police Department · 2025 data
Getting aroundNear US average
26 min average commute
Commutes run about average, at 26.3 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 7 in 10 workers drive to work; 17% work from home.
How workers get to work
Climate
Summers run seriously hot, with average highs pushing 99°F, and winters are mild, with lows rarely dropping below 47°F.
Average month
30-year averages, 1991–2020
Education & workforce▼ 54% below US
16% bachelor's degree or higher
This is a working-class city, and college degree rates reflect that. Trades, manufacturing, and service industries tend to dominate the local economy, which is a strength for some fields and a real constraint for others.
Schools
3 public schools inside the boundary
There are 3 public schools inside the boundary. The student-to-teacher ratio is 13:1, well below the national average of 16:1. Smaller class sizes are generally a positive sign for a district.
Parks & recreation
The nearest national park or historic site is Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park (99 miles away).
Bottom line
Roma's strongest points are home prices that remain within reach and crime rates well below the national average; the main tradeoffs are county unemployment above the national average and household incomes below the national average. It tends to suit anyone prioritizing low crime and remote workers (17% of workers here already work from home). It may be a harder fit for anyone moving without a job lined up and people who struggle with heat.
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