Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Mexico’s household incomes are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns
2% of workers work from home; Missouri has 13%. Poverty touches 17.8% of residents, next to 12.6% for Missouri as a whole. For jobs and income Mexico is better than 11% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Mexico stands out on work
Mexico’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mexico is Columbia, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (662) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Mexico workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Mexico are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Mexico draws workers from far and wide
The 5,793 jobs in Mexico are filled from a wide area. Mexico’s own residents hold 32% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 55% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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 figures behind Mexico’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Mexico’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,873, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mexico could be anywhere from D to C.
The commute from Mexico, by distance
About 21% 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.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Missouri
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mexico workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,562 commuters (the 2% 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.
14% of working residents work in Columbia
Where Mexico clocks in
14% of workers
4% 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.
How many people are in Mexico by day
On a workday 2,777 residents head out to work, 1,852 work right here, and 3,941 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Mexico on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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.
Mexico works in goods: 28% of its jobs
5,793 jobs are based in Mexico.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mexico, 2013 → 2023: 5,937 → 5,793. 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 Mexico’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Mexico, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,659 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). 9.9% of Mexico households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Mexico’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mexico compares with U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,535 | Conneaut OH | 12,247 | $62K | 19.4% | 12.5% | 25% | D |
| 2,536 | Coldwater MI | 14,216 | $51K | 21.3% | 8.3% | 35% | D |
| 2,537 | Mexico MO | 11,558 | $51K | 17.8% | 7.3% | 40% | D |
| 2,538 | Port Townsend WA | 10,678 | $63K | 13.5% | 10.4% | 40% | D |
| 2,539 | Poteau OK | 9,171 | $51K | 19.8% | 6.1% | 34% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Mexico, 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 Mexico: questions
What is the median household income in Mexico?
$50,873 (±$4,859) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mexico?
17.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mexico?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mexico work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (14%, 28 mi), Jefferson City (4%, 44 mi), Centralia (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mexico walkable?
Mexico is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mexico without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mexico, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mexico
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.