Photo: Kbh3rd · CC BY 4.0Households in Houston have lower incomes than those in 96% of U.S. towns
Houston grades D− for jobs and income and B for walkability. The poverty rate is 30.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri. 4% of workers work from home; Missouri has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Houston stands out on work
Houston is where the jobs are
Houston has 1,918 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,500 people are in town, 53% more than the 2,300 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Houston are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Houston workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Houston’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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; with 706 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Houston
On income, poverty and job access, Houston is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Houston’s grade.
Unemployment (8.8%) is left out: Houston’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Houston stays D−.
Houston by day and by night
On a workday 479 residents head out to work, 227 work right here, and 1,691 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Houston on a workday afternoon, 53% more than live here.
2.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 13 minutes to work from Houston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Houston workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 830 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% 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.
Jobs in Houston: what the 1,918 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Houston, 2013 → 2023: 2,061 → 1,918. 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 Houston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Houston: where workers come from
Where Houston clocks in
7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Houston
About 30% 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.
Getting around Houston: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Houston is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Houston 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 865 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). 18.3% of Houston households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Houston’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Houston compares with U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 49 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,261 | Lake Kerr FL | 1,697 | $42K | 23.3% | 20.9% | 4% | D− |
| 5,262 | Slater MO | 1,824 | $39K | 34.0% | 1.9% | 21% | D− |
| 5,263 | Houston MO | 2,281 | $40K | 30.0% | 8.8% | 32% | D− |
| 5,264 | Lovelock NV | 1,771 | $42K | 25.6% | 9.2% | 20% | D− |
| 5,265 | Jellico TN | 2,126 | $41K | 27.7% | 13.1% | 14% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Houston, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
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 Houston: questions
What is the median household income in Houston?
$40,000 (±$7,088) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Houston?
30.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Houston?
13 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Houston work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (7%, 74 mi), Licking (5%, 14 mi), Lebanon (3%, 45 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Houston walkable?
Houston is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Houston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Houston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Houston
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.