Shutter BoysPlantation shutters in Harlingen
Homes in Harlingen
Harlingen's 29,595 homes are a mix: 60% detached houses, 28% apartments or units in buildings of two or more homes and 3% townhouses and other attached houses.
The 1980s and 1990s built 36% of today's homes, more than any other period we count. 36% are older than that and 28% newer. The median home dates from 1988. 56% of homes are lived in by their owners.
Its housing is much like Brownsville's, 19 miles away. Nationally, Harlingen's homes are newer than those in 69% of the 881 US cities we have census figures for.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024. Estimates carry margins of error.
Manufactured homes
9% of homes are mobile or manufactured homes, whose windows usually sit in thin walls with little depth inside the opening. An outside mount on a frame is the reliable choice there, fixed into the framing around the window rather than the thin wall panel.
Rounded drywall corners
64% of homes here were built from 1980 on, and many houses of that era have rounded ("bullnose") drywall corners around the windows instead of square returns. A shutter can't sit flat against a curve: choose an outside mount with a frame that clears the corner, or an inside mount if the flat part of the opening is deep enough for your louvers.
A whole house in Harlingen
The most common home in Harlingen has three bedrooms: 38% of homes. 15% have four bedrooms or more, and 18% have one or none. The median home has 4.8 rooms.
Detached houses are the most common kind of home here. Across the US, the middle home among detached houses has 10 to 15 windows (EIA, 2020). Shuttering that many windows at a typical bedroom-window size comes to roughly $3,200 to $6,000. For scale, that's about 3.3% of the median home value here, $140,600 (owners’ estimates, 2020–2024).
Homes here are smaller than in 76% of the 881 US cities we have figures for: many orders are a few rooms, not a whole house.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 (bedrooms B25041, rooms B25018, value B25077); U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, Table HC2.1 (windows). EIA RECS 2020, Table HC2.1
A typical home10–15 windows
All of them shuttered$3,200 to $6,000
Every window priced as a 36 × 48 in opening in our basic build (flat moulding, paint stage 1, 3½ in louvers), before tax and shipping. Your windows will differ; the designer prices each one.
Price your own windowsOne room at a time
Homes here cost less than in 96% of the 881 US cities we have figures for, and many owners do a house in stages. Start with the rooms where light and privacy matter most, usually bedrooms and the street-facing front, and keep the same louver size and colour so later rooms match. Your saved design keeps every size.
Young children at home
8.7% of people in Harlingen are under five, more than in any other of the 881 US cities we have figures for. Shutters have no cords or chains at all: the louvers tilt with a rod or by hand, so there's nothing to hang within a child's reach. US rules for cords on custom blinds and shades are still being rewritten; ours never had any.
Ages (B01001), working from home (B08301) and value (B25077): U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2020–2024. Rankings compare the US cities we have figures for.
Harlingen weather and your shutters
At Harlingen, TX (2 mi away), August averages a high of 97.8°F and January a low of 51.1°F. Average highs reach 85°F from April to October.
About 151 days a year reach 90°F, 1 nights fall to freezing and 26.6 inches of precipitation falls, most of it around September and least in February.
That's more 90°F days than in 97% of the 881 US cities we have climate normals for.
Daylight runs from 13 h 47 min on the longest day to 10 h 30 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 87° above the horizon in June and 40° in December.
Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Harlingen, TX (temperature) and Harlingen 0.4 N, TX (precipitation, 1 mi away). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 71.7°F | 51.1°F | 1.2 in |
| Feb | 76°F | 54.8°F | 1.1 in |
| Mar | 81°F | 60°F | 1.4 in |
| Apr | 86.4°F | 65.9°F | 1.5 in |
| May | 91.1°F | 71.8°F | 2 in |
| Jun | 95.4°F | 75.9°F | 3.3 in |
| Jul | 96.6°F | 76.9°F | 3.9 in |
| Aug | 97.8°F | 76.8°F | 1.5 in |
| Sep | 93.1°F | 73.6°F | 5.1 in |
| Oct | 88°F | 66.8°F | 2.6 in |
| Nov | 79.7°F | 58.8°F | 1.7 in |
| Dec | 73.2°F | 52.5°F | 1.3 in |
Months of hard sun
With 151 days a year above 90°F, sun on the window is the main thing shutters do here. Closed louvers stop direct sun before it reaches the room; angled up, they still let light bounce off the ceiling. On south and west windows, white and light finishes stay cooler and show fading less than dark stains; keep stains for windows out of the afternoon sun.
Fitting them in Harlingen
Shutter Boys shutters are made for you to fit yourself: an inside or outside mount takes a drill, a level and our step-by-step guide. If you'd rather hire someone, a finish carpenter or blinds installer can fit them; ask on your quote and we'll tell you if we know one near you. You arrange and pay the installer directly.
Near Harlingen
- Brownsville 19 mi
- Edinburg 30 mi
- Pharr 31 mi
- McAllen 34 mi
- Mission 39 mi
More about shutters in Harlingen
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Harlingen’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Harlingen
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Harlingen can sell or refer Shutter Boys shutters: dealers buy at trade pricing with a protected area; referral partners earn a fee on each client they send. No fee to join.
Price your windows
Pick your look once, add every window, and see each one drawn and priced. Send it to us and we reply with your quote.