78520
Brownsville, Texas.
Brownsville, Cameron County, TX · Brownsville-Harlingen, TX metro · population 64,740
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$583 (+142%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $3,378 +2%
- $185,670$189,048 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $40,567 +27%
- $148,480$189,048 since Sep 2021
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.
- 78520$992
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in zip 78520 rose 1.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in zip 78520 rose 5.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in zip 78520 runs $90/mo less than renting one. The gap peaked at $155 in Feb 2024.
That is $1,430 a month against $1,521 rent: a $992 mortgage payment, plus $236 property tax and $202 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — zip 78520
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$1,430
- Renting$1,521
- Mortgage only$992
Property tax · $236/mo 1.50% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Cameron County, TX
Insurance & upkeep · $202/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Zillow also publishes an index for the city itself: Brownsville, TX — measured over the city limits, which is a different area from this zip.
Asking rent — 78520
Against the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX metro and the national benchmark.
- 78520$1,521
- Brownsville$1,509
- United States$1,932
Typical home value — 78520
Mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- 78520$189,048
- Brownsville$204,552
- United States$366,157
Within 20 miles
| Miles sorted ascending, activate to sort descending | Zip activate to sort by Zip | City activate to sort by City | Population activate to sort by Population | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.6 | 78575 | Olmito | 4,575 | $1,656 | $289,682 |
| 6.6 | 78526 | Brownsville | 60,012 | $1,897 | $235,340 |
| 11.4 | 78586 | San Benito | 50,964 | $1,300 | $159,506 |
| 14.2 | 78566 | Los Fresnos | 25,110 | — | $221,820 |
| 14.3 | 78521 | Brownsville | 87,380 | $1,609 | $169,028 |
| 16.1 | 78578 | Port Isabel | 10,016 | $1,993 | $263,233 |
Coordinates and population from SimpleMaps US Zips (Basic). Rent and home values from Zillow Research.