The Aging-Alone Index · Texas Edition · October 2026
The Aging-Alone Index: Texas Edition
By SeniorThrive, with property and deed data from
981,431 Texans 65 and older live alone today, one in four of the state's seniors, across all 254 counties. When you live alone, your home demands perfection. A house does not need to be broken to be unforgiving; a poorly lit step or a slick bathroom floor carries no immediate backup. The risk is not that people fail their homes. It is that aging houses leave solitary homeowners zero room to slip.
Key Highlights
24.2%
of Texas seniors (65+) live alone, 981,431 people across 254 counties
79%
of the 812 Texas parcels coded as nursing or retirement homes sit in four counties: Harris, Bexar, Dallas, and Travis
483,141
Transfer on Death deed records, filings in which an owner names who inherits the home without probate
Local Story Angles, Quotes, and the Data
- 01
Where care shows up in the property record
In 232 of the 247 Texas counties with clear land-use reporting, not one parcel is coded as a nursing or retirement home, and four counties hold 79% of the 812 statewide. Check your county against the state licensing list: the assessor code misses some facilities.
- 02
The deed paper trail
483,141 Transfer on Death deed records name who inherits a Texas home, and 35,606 deed records, going back to 1795, were signed by an attorney-in-fact, agent, conservator, or estate representative. The press team can provide county detail.
- 03
Where your county ranks
Fifteen counties lead the Aging-Alone Index, from Wichita (45.6) to El Paso (30.9), including Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant, and Travis. Each score splits into who lives alone, senior-exempt ownership, and how much the homes demand.
Download the data
- County data, 30 largest markets (CSV)
- Aging-Alone Index ranking, top 15 counties (CSV)
- Care-facility density by county (CSV)
- Full county data, all 254 counties (CSV)
Cite as
SeniorThrive, "The Aging-Alone Index: Texas Edition," October 2026, with property and deed data from TovoData. seniorthrive.com/aging-alone-index/texas
"When an older adult lives alone, the home itself becomes one of the biggest factors in their safety and independence. A minor hazard like a steep threshold or poorly lit staircase can turn a manageable living situation into a sudden health crisis. By identifying these physical home risks early, we can intervene and make critical adaptations before an injury occurs."
"Public property records show senior vulnerability at a county level that surveys can't reach. Cross-referencing 14.6 million Texas parcel records and 45 million deed records with Census data, we found that in 232 of the 247 counties with clear land-use reporting, not one parcel is coded as a nursing or retirement home. Four metro counties hold 79 percent of those that are."
Where Living Alone Meets a Demanding Home
Fifteen Texas counties rank highest on the Aging-Alone Index, a score from 0 to 100 built from three signals: how many seniors live alone (Census), the share of homes carrying a senior property-tax exemption (TovoData ownership), and how much the homes demand, measured by multi-story homes, homes in poor or unsound condition, and homes built before 1980 (TovoData home demand). Each bar shows the mix of those three signals behind a county's score: teal for Census, terracotta for ownership, deep brown for home demand. Score is the result, at right.
- 01Wichita CountyMetroScore 45.6
- 02Jefferson CountyMetroScore 43.8
- 03Potter CountyMetroScore 43.5
- 04Bee CountyRuralScore 42.9
- 05Dallas CountyMetroScore 42.4
- 06Gregg CountyMetroScore 41.8
- 07Bexar CountyMetroScore 37.4
- 08Galveston CountyMetroScore 34.8
- 09Tarrant CountyMetroScore 32.6
- 10Concho CountyRuralScore 32.3
- 11Travis CountyMetroScore 32.2
- 12Lubbock CountyMetroScore 31.1
- 13Hardin CountyMetroScore 30.9
- 14Brazoria CountyMetroScore 30.9
- 15El Paso CountyMetroScore 30.9
Ranked among the 24 Texas counties with complete data across every layer. Full methodology below.
How to read the score
Each signal is scaled from 0 to 100 across Texas counties, then combined: 40% living alone, 30% ownership, 30% home demand. The weights are our judgment, with living alone weighted most because it is the one signal every county reports. Under equal weights, Wichita and Jefferson stay first and second, the same eight counties make the top eight, and no county moves more than three places.
A county would score 100 only if it had the highest rate in Texas on all three signals, and 0 only if it had the lowest on all three. Among the 24 ranked counties, scores run from 12.1 (Rockwall) to 45.6 (Wichita).
Scores rank Texas counties against each other. They are not a probability of harm to any person, and they are not comparable with other states.
What 45 Million Deed Records Reveal
Planning for the house, on the public record
483,141 deeds
A Transfer on Death deed lets a Texas homeowner name who inherits the house without probate. The count includes some records filed before the 2015 law that created the deed. It shows owners planning for the home, not who lives in it.
The institutional care divide
79% in 4 counties
Harris, Bexar, Dallas, and Travis hold 79% of the Texas parcels that county assessors code as nursing or retirement homes. Across most of the state, the property record shows almost no institutional care close to home.
Texas's 30 Largest Markets, and Where Aging Alone Runs Highest
Teal = Census.Terracotta = TovoData ownership signal.Deep brown = TovoData home-demand and care-facility signal.These 30 counties hold most of the state's population.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| County | Living alone | Senior exemption | Reverse mortgage | Structurally failing | Care facility parcels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris CountyMetro | 24.9% | Not reported | 0.54% | 1.2% | 237 |
| Dallas CountyMetro | 26.4% | 22.4% | 0.85% | 1.0% | 154 |
| Bexar CountyMetro | 26.6% | 22.5% | 0.51% | 0.0% | 171 |
| Tarrant CountyMetro | 25.3% | 20.1% | 0.58% | 1.4% | Not reported |
| Travis CountyMetro | 26.9% | 17.5% | 0.26% | 0.3% | 80 |
| Collin CountyMetro | 20.6% | 16.9% | 0.26% | Not reported | Not reported |
| El Paso CountyMetro | 24.6% | 20.4% | 0.79% | 4.9% | Not reported |
| Denton CountyMetro | 20.9% | 18.6% | 0.32% | 2.3% | Not reported |
| Fort Bend CountyMetro | 15.2% | Not reported | 0.19% | 1.5% | Not reported |
| Montgomery CountyMetro | 19.6% | 20.9% | 0.25% | 2.2% | Not reported |
| Hidalgo CountyMetro | 21.6% | 18.6% | 0.07% | Not reported | 43 |
| Williamson CountyMetro | 23.4% | Not reported | 0.37% | Not reported | Not reported |
| Cameron CountyMetro | 24.2% | 19.2% | 0.31% | Not reported | 0 |
| Galveston CountyMetro | 26.3% | 23.0% | 0.51% | 0.6% | 0 |
| Brazoria CountyMetro | 21.0% | 21.8% | 0.20% | 3.6% | 0 |
| Bell CountyMetro | 26.5% | 18.2% | 0.22% | 3.6% | 0 |
| Nueces CountyMetro | 25.3% | 23.8% | 0.79% | Not reported | 0 |
| Brazos CountyMetro | 25.4% | 18.5% | 0.14% | Not reported | 0 |
| Smith CountyMetro | 23.4% | 26.8% | 0.81% | 3.4% | 8 |
| Lubbock CountyMetro | 28.3% | 17.9% | 0.32% | 0.0% | 0 |
| Liberty CountyMetro | 25.6% | 12.7% | 0.07% | Not reported | 0 |
| Jefferson CountyMetro | 28.7% | 22.8% | 0.27% | 4.6% | 0 |
| Hays CountyMetro | 23.3% | Not reported | 0.18% | Not reported | 0 |
| McLennan CountyMetro | 25.1% | 24.4% | 0.71% | Not reported | 0 |
| Comal CountyMetro | 20.3% | 24.7% | 0.56% | Not reported | 0 |
| Webb CountyMetro | 22.6% | 16.0% | 0.28% | Not reported | 0 |
| Guadalupe CountyMetro | 21.6% | 19.0% | 0.38% | Not reported | 0 |
| Johnson CountyMetro | 19.3% | 25.9% | 0.30% | Not reported | 0 |
| Ellis CountyMetro | 19.6% | 20.2% | 0.47% | Not reported | 0 |
| Kaufman CountyMetro | 17.2% | 21.4% | 0.16% | Not reported | 0 |
Assessor data as delivered to TovoData in September 2026. Not reported means that county's assessor has not yet delivered the field; it is never a zero.
Care facility parcels: 0 means the assessor reports land use and records no care-facility parcels. Not reported means land use is not yet reported in enough detail to place.
Care-Facility Density, County by County
232 of 247Texas counties with a clear read on institutional land use report zero care-facility parcels
Care-facility parcels per 1,000 residents 65+. All 812 statewide sit in the 15 counties below, led by Potter and Wichita County. Seven more large counties, including Tarrant, Collin, and Denton, don't yet report enough detail to place. This is a land-use code on assessor records, not a licensing list: Texas licenses about 1,180 nursing homes, so the code misses some facilities, and a county with zero coded parcels may still have one.
- Smith CountyMetro0.19 / 1,000, 8 parcels
- Harrison CountyMetro0.33 / 1,000, 4 parcels
- Angelina CountyRural0.41 / 1,000, 6 parcels
- Hidalgo CountyMetro0.41 / 1,000, 43 parcels
- Harris CountyMetro0.42 / 1,000, 237 parcels
- Dallas CountyMetro0.50 / 1,000, 154 parcels
- Travis CountyMetro0.55 / 1,000, 80 parcels
- Randall CountyMetro0.56 / 1,000, 13 parcels
- Bexar CountyMetro0.64 / 1,000, 171 parcels
- Dimmit CountyRural0.74 / 1,000, 1 parcel
- Cooke CountyRural0.86 / 1,000, 7 parcels
- Tom Green CountyMetro0.94 / 1,000, 19 parcels
- Washington CountyRural1.18 / 1,000, 10 parcels
- Wichita CountyMetro1.25 / 1,000, 25 parcels
- Potter CountyMetro2.05 / 1,000, 34 parcels
The data behind the story.
Every figure in this report is sourced and available for verification. For interviews, the underlying county-by-county dataset, or partnership inquiries, contact SeniorThrive's press team.