Marathon, Texas.
Typical home $176,645 (+8.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$173 (+23%) since Feb 2022.
- 1 year
- Up $13,871 +9%
- $162,775$176,645 since Sep 2025
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Marathon$927
- Texas$1,556
- United States$1,922
Typical home values in Marathon, TX rose 8.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Marathon, Brewster County, Texas
Marathon, in Brewster County, had 410 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $45,635 a year and half less, against $56,212 across Brewster County. Unemployment in Brewster County was 3.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Brewster County work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Marathon is a very small community in Brewster County, with fewer residents than most towns that have a page like this. Household incomes here run below the county's, and the typical home is modestly priced. Winters are mild and cold nights are common, summers are hot, and very little snow falls; the climate is dry, with only a small amount of rain and melted snow through the year.
Work. Residents of Marathon work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in government, and in banks, insurance and property. Across Brewster County, some of the largest workplaces are Sul Ross State University, Alpine ISD and the National Park Service. Unemployment across the county is a little lower than it was a year ago, and the number of jobs there has barely changed.
Things to do. Post Park is a park a short drive away, a simple spot for time outdoors. Farther off, a longer drive away, are Kokernot Field, a stadium, and the Museum of the Big Bend, a museum.
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What people in Brewster County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Brewster County had 4,529 jobs in 2025, 0.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 62° and lows near 26°; warmest in June, with highs near 92° and lows near 60°. About 13 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Marathon weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Brewster County
- Sul Ross State UniversityUniversity or college386
- Lajitas Golf ResortResort hotels without casinos215
- Alpine ISDSchool district187FTE
- Big Bend Regional MED CTRCritical access hospital99FTE
- National Park ServiceFederal government · Department of the Interior63
- AramarkHotels and motels47
- AramarkFood service contractors33
- AramarkHotels and motels27
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 396 people in all across the county; Marathon has none of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- LightningVery high
- DroughtRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Marathon’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Brewster County.
Marathon home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Marathon$176,645
- Texas$296,424
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Marathon6
Zip codes with a Marathon address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Marathon — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.