About half of Drexel Heights’ working residents commute to Tucson
For 11% of workers, the job is at home (Arizona 18%). Jobs and income earn Drexel Heights C+; getting around on foot earns it B+. Commuters spend 27 minutes getting to work on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Drexel Heights apart on work
Jobs in Drexel Heights have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Drexel Heights went from 880 in 2013 to 2,396 in 2023, +172%. The jobs ↓
Nearly half of Drexel Heights works in Tucson
5,502 working residents, 49%, have their main job in Tucson, 10 miles away across the town line. That’s 16 times as many as work in Drexel Heights itself. The commute map ↓
Drexel Heights is a place people come home to
There are 2,396 jobs based in Drexel Heights, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Drexel Heights has about 19,000 people in it, 32% 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.
Where Drexel Heights’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Drexel Heights is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #58 of 140 in Arizona. Job access by car holds Drexel Heights’ grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Drexel Heights could be anywhere from C to B.
The kinds of work in Drexel Heights
2,396 jobs are based in Drexel Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Drexel Heights, 2013 → 2023: 880 → 2,396. 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 Drexel Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Drexel Heights’ residents
Where Drexel Heights clocks in
49% of workers
9% of workers
3% 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.
Drexel Heights by day and by night
On a workday 10,820 residents head out to work, 345 work right here, and 2,051 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Drexel Heights on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.21 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Drexel Heights
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Drexel Heights workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,608 commuters (the 11% 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.
Miles to work from Drexel Heights
About 25% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Few in Drexel Heights walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Drexel Heights is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #36 of 140 in Arizona. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.9% across Arizona.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,904 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 75% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 5% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% 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). 3.9% of Drexel Heights households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Drexel Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,509 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 37,000, Drexel Heights comes 1,118th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Anthem AZ | 22,584 | $121K | 4.1% | 4.4% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 668 | Fountain Hills AZ | 23,625 | $113K | 6.2% | 5.3% | 14% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 933 | Sun City West AZ | 27,425 | $64K | 7.6% | 3.8% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,116 | Hamilton Township NJ | 28,845 | $79K | 8.8% | 10.8% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,117 | Massillon OH | 32,168 | $56K | 13.9% | 4.4% | 18% | C+ |
| 1,118 | Drexel Heights AZ | 27,675 | $74K | 14.6% | 5.3% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,119 | Maywood IL | 23,330 | $69K | 15.5% | 7.7% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,120 | Kailua HI | 21,818 | $88K | 14.3% | 4.0% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,509 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Drexel Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
The towns next door employ 49% of Drexel Heights
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Drexel Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drexel Heights | – | C+ | B+ | 27 min | $73,508 |
| Tucson | 49% | C | A | 22 min | $57,073 |
| Valencia West | under 2% | B | D | 37 min | $99,884 |
| Tucson Estates | under 2% | B | C− | 31 min | $66,582 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Tucson. Darker towns draw more of Drexel Heights’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 Drexel Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Drexel Heights?
$73,508 (±$5,952) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Drexel Heights?
14.6%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Drexel Heights?
27 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Drexel Heights work?
3% work in town.
Is Drexel Heights walkable?
Drexel Heights is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Drexel Heights without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 5% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Drexel Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Drexel Heights
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.