Spend an afternoon downtown in Abilene, a West Texas railroad town of about 130,000, founded in 1881 and named for the Kansas cattle town. It bills itself as the Friendliest City in Texas, and it is a college town too, with Abilene Christian, Hardin-Simmons and McMurry all here. The surrounding country is big, flat and dry, and the nearest large cities are far away.
The pace is slow and the costs are low. Housing is modest and steady, and the local economy leans on Dyess Air Force Base, hospitals and the universities. Downtown has murals, Cypress Street dining, and the storybook sculptures tied to the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature. Crime is mostly property crime, so lock your car. The weather is the bigger deal: summer heat above 100, spring hail and tornadoes, drought, and the occasional winter ice storm.
Cities with a similar character, anywhere on the site.
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- Known as
- Key City; Friendliest City in Texas; Storybook Capital of America; Home of three universities (Abilene Christian, Hardin-Simmons, McMurry)
- Founded
- 1881 founded as a railroad town on the Texas and Pacific Railway; named for Abilene, Kansas; incorporated 1881
- Languages
- English; Spanish; smaller communities speaking Vietnamese, Burmese and Korean
- Airports
- Abilene Regional (ABI), about 6 miles southeast, with American Eagle flights to Dallas/Fort Worth; Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW), about 150 miles east; Midland International (MAF), about 150 miles west
- Tipping
- Restaurants 18-20%; bars $1-2 per drink; taxis and rideshare 15-20%; hotel housekeeping $2-5 per night; bellhops $2-5 per bag; counter service optional
About this data
Population, land area (106.67 sq mi), median value and rent are from Census QuickFacts (Vintage 2025 estimate; ACS 2020-2024). Metro figure is approximate for the Abilene MSA (Taylor, Jones and Callahan counties; roughly 180,000, Census 2020 base of about 176,600), and Abilene is its only anchor. Elevation, coordinates, founding, event months, hotel ranges, tipping, cost-of-living index, airport distances and 1BR rent are approximate or from general knowledge and not verified in this pass. Official URLs found via search but not load-tested.
