State
County
Land Area
54.5 sq mi
Density
2,835.3/sq mi
2020 Growth Rate
1.97%
Growth Since 2010
20.89%
Rank in State
Rank in Country
Metro Population
469,334
Killeen is a city located in Texas. With a 2020 population of 154,649, it is the 19th largest city in Texas and the 166th largest city in the United States. Killeen is currently growing at a rate of 1.97% annually and its population has increased by 20.89% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 127,921 in 2010. Spanning over 55 miles, Killeen has a population density of 2,835 people per square mile.
The average household income in Killeen is $60,435 with a poverty rate of 14.71%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to $923 per month, and the median house value is $126,200. The median age in Killeen is 28.8 years, 28.2 years for males, and 29.4 years for females. For every 100 females there are 96.6 males.
Situated in Bell County, Texas, Killeen is the 21st most populous city in Texas. The city is located about 70 miles north of Austin and 3 miles outside the Fort Hood military base. The economy of Killeen depends largely on the cantonment of Fort Hood, located directly adjacent to the city. Over the years Killeen has seen rapid population growth, due to the high influx of soldiers and their families.
Killeen, TX, was ranked in 2007 as the most affordable housing market in the whole of the United States with an average cost of $136,725.
In 1950, there were no blacks living in the city of Killeen until the construction of Camp Hood. A few years into the decade, Marlboro Heights, an all black subdivision was developed, and in 1956 the city school board voted in favor of integration. Today, almost 40% of Killeen's population is black and the city has almost closed the white and black homeownership gap (https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/17/news/economy/kileen-texas-homeownership/index.html).
At the turn of the 20th century, Killeen saw a population of around only 800. Today, this has grown to over 145,000, due mainly to the military presence in the city. Between 1940 and 1950, the population of Killeen had gone up by a multiple of over 5, from 1,300 in 1940 to over 7,045 in 1950, with an annual growth rate of 18.41%.
This population only continued to grow in the decades that followed, reaching over 23,000 in 1960, over 35,000 in 1970, over 46,000 in 1980, over 63,000 in 1990 and almost 87,000 in 1990, more than 10 times that what it was 100 years earlier. It's estimated that the population of the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood area will grow 23% between 2015 and 2030 to reach 550,000 people.
As the railway expanded its tracks through Texas in 1881, what was a small farming community by the name of Palo Alto soon became a booming town, taking its name from Frank P. Killeen, the railroad’s assistant general manager. In the year that followed, stores, a school, and a saloon had all been built, and by 1884 the town had a hotel, a lumberyard, a blacksmith shop, two saloons, two cotton gins, two gristmills, five general stores, and roughly 350 people.
Killeen remained relatively small and isolated until the 1940s and World War II. The aforementioned Camp Hood was constructed in 1942 (renamed Fort Hood in the 1950s) as a training post to meet the demand for soldiers. This brought with it people in the thousands, not only from soldiers and their families, but contractors, laborers, and construction workers also, turning Killeen almost overnight into a military boom town. By the 1970s, Killeen had grown into a thriving city of over 35,000.
According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of Killeen was:
2019 and 2020 population is estimated by projecting the raw 2018 numbers.
Year | Total Population | Growth | Annual Growth Rate |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | 469,334 | 9,031 | 1.92% |
2019 | 460,303 | 9,031 | 1.96% |
2018 | 451,272 | 8,274 | 1.83% |
2017 | 442,998 | 6,577 | 1.48% |
2016 | 436,421 | 3,838 | 0.88% |
2015 | 432,583 | 6,162 | 1.42% |
2014 | 426,421 | 2,490 | 0.58% |
2013 | 423,931 | 456 | 0.11% |
2012 | 423,475 | 11,127 | 2.63% |
2011 | 412,348 | 4,086 | 0.99% |
2010 | 408,262 | 0.00% |
Race | Population | Percentage |
---|---|---|
White | 64,517 | 44.28% |
Black or African American | 58,357 | 40.06% |
Two or More Races | 9,338 | 6.41% |
Asian | 5,662 | 3.89% |
Some Other Race | 4,769 | 3.27% |
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 1,865 | 1.28% |
American Indian and Alaska Native | 1,178 | 0.81% |
Type | Count | Average Size | Owned |
---|---|---|---|
All | 53,363 | 2.73 | 43.8 |
Married | 24,446 | 3.47 | 56 |
Non Family | 16,923 | 1.2 | 31.7 |
Female | 9,850 | 3.34 | 33.5 |
Male | 2,144 | 3.44 | 47.3 |
3.35
Average Family Size
2.73
Average Household Size
Education Attained | Count | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Less Than 9th Grade | 2,822 | 3.32% |
9th to 12th Grade | 4,392 | 5.17% |
High School Graduate | 21,228 | 24.99% |
Some College | 27,703 | 32.61% |
Associates Degree | 11,657 | 13.72% |
Bachelors Degree | 12,157 | 14.31% |
Graduate Degree | 4,990 | 5.87% |
Name | Total | High School | Bachelors |
---|---|---|---|
Black | 33,239 | 31,152 | 6,771 |
White | 26,644 | 25,270 | 6,048 |
Hispanic | 20,529 | 17,353 | 3,527 |
Asian | 4,333 | 3,514 | 953 |
Multiple Races | 3,294 | 3,082 | 517 |
Other Race | 2,814 | 2,482 | 244 |
Islander | 1,219 | 1,144 | 53 |
Native American | 758 | 641 | 202 |
The highest rate of high school graduation is among white people with a rate of 94.84%.
The highest rate of bachelors degrees is among native american people with a rate of 26.65%.
$32,313
Average Earnings
$39,411
Average Male
$27,141
Average Female
75.41% of Killeen residents speak only English, while 24.59% speak other languages. The non-English language spoken by the largest group is Spanish, which is spoken by 16.86% of the population.
Name | Total | In Poverty | Poverty Rate |
---|---|---|---|
Black | 57,862 | 9,856 | 17.03% |
Hispanic | 38,587 | 7,092 | 18.38% |
White | 40,904 | 3,952 | 9.66% |
Multiple | 9,319 | 1,423 | 15.27% |
Asian | 5,662 | 628 | 11.09% |
Other | 4,700 | 559 | 11.89% |
Islander | 1,865 | 352 | 18.87% |
Native | 1,178 | 300 | 25.47% |
14.71%
Overall Poverty Rate
12.95%
Male Poverty Rate
16.40%
Female Poverty Rate
The race most likely to be in poverty in Killeen is Native, with 25.47% below the poverty level.
The race least likely to be in poverty in Killeen is White, with 9.66% below the poverty level.
The poverty rate among those that worked full-time for the past 12 months was 4.06%. Among those working part-time, it was 18.62%, and for those that did not work, the poverty rate was 21.38%.
51.1%
Overall Marriage Rate
53.5%
Male Marriage Rate
48.8%
Female Marriage Rate
The age group where males are most likely to be married is 45-54, while the female age group most likely to be married is 45-54.
Name | Veterans | % of Total |
---|---|---|
Black | 12,685 | 34.60% |
White | 11,090 | 26.43% |
Hispanic | 4,987 | 21.40% |
2 or More | 976 | 24.21% |
Other | 723 | 21.17% |
Asian | 667 | 14.85% |
Hawaiian | 472 | 34.53% |
Indian | 106 | 12.60% |
7.80%
Veteran Poverty Rate
25.95%
Veteran Disability Rate
68.4%
Labor Force Participation
53.9%
Employment Rate
10.4%
Unemployment Rate
Non citizens include legal permanent residents (green card holders), international students, temporary workers, humanitarian migrants, and illegal immigrants.
90.33%
Native Born
9.67%
Foreign Born
4.22%
Non Citizen
5.44%
Naturalized
90.33% of Killeen residents were born in the United States, with 35.11% having been born in Texas. 4.22% of residents are not US citizens. Of those not born in the United States, the largest percentage are from Latin America.
Year | Population | Growth | Annual Growth Rate |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | 154,649 | 2,983 | 1.97% |
2019 | 151,666 | 2,983 | 2.01% |
2018 | 148,683 | 3,534 | 2.43% |
2017 | 145,149 | 2,295 | 1.61% |
2016 | 142,854 | 2,707 | 1.93% |
2015 | 140,147 | 2,558 | 1.86% |
2014 | 137,589 | 1,295 | 0.95% |
2013 | 136,294 | 2,054 | 1.53% |
2012 | 134,240 | 3,402 | 2.60% |
2011 | 130,838 | 1,814 | 1.41% |
2010 | 129,024 | 42,113 | 4.03% |
2000 | 86,911 | 23,376 | 3.18% |
1990 | 63,535 | 17,239 | 3.22% |
1980 | 46,296 | 10,789 | 2.69% |
1970 | 35,507 | 12,130 | 4.27% |
1960 | 23,377 | 16,332 | 12.74% |
1950 | 7,045 | 5,745 | 18.41% |
1940 | 1,300 | 500 | 1.22% |
1900 | 800 | 0.00% |