Photo: Marine 69-71 · CC BY-SA 4.0How Thatcher works: jobs, income and commuting
Jobs and income earn Thatcher C; getting around on foot earns it B+. Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, where Arizona as a whole has 18%. Household incomes here are higher than in 60% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Thatcher: the gist
Thatcher and Safford trade workers both ways
Safford is the top workplace for Thatcher residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Thatcher come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Thatcher workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 18% across Arizona. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Thatcher
61% of Thatcher residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 40% of the jobs based in Thatcher pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 86% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Thatcher pay little
26% of the jobs based in Thatcher pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 32% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
The four measures behind Thatcher’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Thatcher is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #71 of 140 in Arizona. Household income holds Thatcher’s grade up ($82,917, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Thatcher could be anywhere from D to B+.
30% of working residents work in Safford
Where Thatcher clocks in
30% of workers
8% 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.
Time on the road from Thatcher: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thatcher workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,500 commuters (the 2% 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.
The 1,611 jobs based in Thatcher
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thatcher, 2013 → 2023: 1,472 → 1,611. 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 Thatcher’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Thatcher
About 32% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Thatcher
On a workday 1,681 residents head out to work, 272 work right here, and 1,339 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Getting around Thatcher: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thatcher is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #31 of 140 in Arizona. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,561 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.1% of Thatcher households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thatcher’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Thatcher is 2,435th of 3,476 U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 349 | Litchfield Park AZ | 6,727 | $126K | 3.9% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 351 | Citrus Park AZ | 5,115 | $141K | 8.8% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 435 | Rincon Valley AZ | 6,512 | $132K | 4.1% | 1.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,433 | Cut Off LA | 5,398 | $68K | 19.2% | 2.6% | 7% | C |
| 2,434 | Willow Oak FL | 7,454 | $66K | 24.7% | 4.6% | 1% | C |
| 2,435 | Thatcher AZ | 5,690 | $83K | 12.1% | 4.6% | 14% | C |
| 2,436 | Greenville IL | 7,469 | $62K | 11.3% | 4.5% | 32% | C |
| 2,437 | Childress TX | 5,650 | $58K | 14.4% | 0.4% | 46% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Thatcher, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
30% of Thatcher works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Safford. Darker towns draw more of Thatcher’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 Thatcher: questions
What is the median household income in Thatcher?
$82,917 (±$24,554) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thatcher?
12.1%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thatcher?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thatcher work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Safford (30%, 4 mi), Morenci (8%, 30 mi), Phoenix (6%, 144 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thatcher walkable?
Thatcher is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thatcher without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thatcher, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thatcher
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.