Photo: Marine 69-71 · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Buckeye commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Buckeye is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns. Employers in Buckeye report 12,924 jobs for 44,343 working residents. Buckeye grades B for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Buckeye in brief
Buckeye has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Buckeye went from 7,357 in 2013 to 12,924 in 2023, +76%. The jobs ↓
39% of Buckeye works in Phoenix
17,195 working residents, 39%, have their main job in Phoenix, 33 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Buckeye itself. The commute map ↓
Buckeye workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 25 across Arizona. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Buckeye is a place people come home to
There are 12,924 jobs based in Buckeye, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Buckeye has about 94,000 people in it, 25% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside Buckeye’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Buckeye is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #33 of 140 in Arizona. Household income holds Buckeye’s grade up ($99,486, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Buckeye could be anywhere from B− to A−.
What Buckeye’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buckeye, 2013 → 2023: 7,357 → 12,924. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Buckeye’s own residents hold wherever they work.
39% of working residents work in Phoenix
Where Buckeye clocks in
39% of workers
7% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The daily trip from Buckeye: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buckeye workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 34,747 commuters (the 20% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who commutes out of Buckeye, and who commutes in
On a workday 40,746 residents head out to work, 3,597 work right here, and 9,327 people come in from elsewhere.
About 94,000 people are in Buckeye on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Short hops and long hauls from Buckeye
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Buckeye, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buckeye is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns, #102 of 140 in Arizona. Both inputs place Buckeye near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 43,244 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.2% of Buckeye households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Buckeye’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
For jobs and income, Buckeye is 149th of 317 U.S. towns of 88,000 to 169,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 2 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Franklin TN | 90,226 | $120K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 31% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Queen Creek AZ | 89,770 | $142K | 3.7% | 4.3% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Goodyear AZ | 125,359 | $103K | 5.2% | 4.2% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Avondale AZ | 100,983 | $86K | 10.9% | 3.6% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 147 | Quincy MA | 103,173 | $99K | 10.6% | 6.9% | 14% | B |
| 148 | Escondido CA | 146,030 | $92K | 12.2% | 4.7% | 17% | B |
| 149 | Buckeye AZ | 125,445 | $99K | 8.0% | 4.9% | 8% | B |
| 150 | Deltona FL | 100,267 | $77K | 10.2% | 3.4% | 4% | B |
| 151 | Perry Township IN | 123,439 | $67K | 12.8% | 2.9% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 317 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Buckeye, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
Buckeye and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Goodyear (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Buckeye’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Buckeye: questions
What is the median household income in Buckeye?
$99,486 (±$3,832) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buckeye?
8.0%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buckeye?
33 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buckeye work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (39%, 33 mi), Goodyear (7%, 20 mi), Tempe (6%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buckeye walkable?
Buckeye is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buckeye without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buckeye, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buckeye
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.