Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Houston has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
259 jobs are based in Houston for 628 working residents. Jobs and income earn Houston C+; getting around on foot earns it A. 7% of workers work from home, against 16% across Pennsylvania.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Houston stands out on work
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Houston
On income, poverty and job access, Houston is better than 40% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Houston’s grade up (ahead of 81% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (3.0%) is left out: Houston’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Houston could be anywhere from C to B−.
Commuting from Houston: about 20 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Houston workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 579 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Pennsylvania: 81% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily flow of workers through Houston
On a workday 616 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 247 people come in from elsewhere.
About 760 people are in Houston on a workday afternoon, 33% 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 2024, primary jobs.
11% of working residents work in Pittsburgh
Where Houston clocks in
11% of workers
7% 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.
Making and building: 44% of jobs based in Houston
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Houston, 2014 → 2024: 223 → 259. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Houston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Houston
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Houston is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Houston is more walkable than 89% 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 625 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). 14.9% of Houston households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Houston’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Houston ranks: 1,661st of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Rose Valley PA | 1,017 | $247K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,659 | Oakland IA | 1,489 | $81K | 14.3% | 0.0% | 24% | C+ |
| 1,660 | Towanda KS | 1,426 | $64K | 13.5% | 2.4% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,661 | Houston PA | 1,126 | $65K | 20.0% | 3.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,662 | Rock Springs NM | 1,013 | $97K | 10.9% | 2.0% | 0% | C+ |
| 1,663 | Lookout Mountain AL | 1,120 | $80K | 12.8% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Pennsylvania.
Work next door: 18% of Houston’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Houston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | – | C+ | A | 20 min | $64,773 |
| Chartiers Township | 5% | A | C− | 24 min | $99,777 |
| McGovern | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| North Strabane Township | 7% | A | B | 31 min | $103,084 |
| Strabane | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Midland | under 2% | — | — | 13 min | — |
| Canonsburg | 6% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $79,227 |
Same-state neighbors only. McGovern, Strabane and Midland: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to North Strabane Township. Darker towns draw more of Houston’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 2024, 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?
$64,773 (±$13,628) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Houston?
20.0%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Houston?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Houston work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsburgh (11%, 18 mi), North Strabane Township (7%, 4 mi), Cecil Township (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Houston walkable?
Houston is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Houston without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 15% 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), 2024, 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.