Photo: CityofAllen · CC BY-SA 4.0Allen’s household incomes are higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 27% of workers, against 14% across Texas. 6.1% of residents live below the poverty line, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Jobs and income earn Allen A; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Allen
A lot of Allen works from home
27% of Allen workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Time on the road ↓
Allen has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Allen went from 24,274 in 2013 to 38,467 in 2023, +58%. The jobs ↓
Allen’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Allen is Dallas, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (11,084) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Allen’s grade
Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 97% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Allen could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Time on the road from Allen: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Allen workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 41,068 commuters (the 27% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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.
What work there is in Allen: 38,467 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Allen, 2013 → 2023: 24,274 → 38,467. 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 Allen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Allen works
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 commute in and out of Allen
On a workday 49,042 residents head out to work, 5,882 work right here, and 32,585 people come in from elsewhere.
About 97,000 people are in Allen on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.70 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.
20% of working residents work in Dallas
Where Allen clocks in
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.
Most of Allen commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Allen is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #188 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.0% across Texas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 56,036 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 3.2% of Allen households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Allen’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Ranked on jobs and income, Allen is 20th among 375 U.S. towns of 79,000 to 153,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Flower Mound TX | 79,540 | $161K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Pearland TX | 129,930 | $119K | 4.1% | 3.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Mountain View CA | 85,438 | $190K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 16% | A |
| 19 | Livermore CA | 83,457 | $161K | 4.9% | 3.6% | 23% | A |
| 20 | Allen TX | 113,447 | $131K | 6.1% | 3.7% | 11% | A |
| 21 | O'Fallon MO | 96,101 | $110K | 5.4% | 2.7% | 15% | A |
| 22 | Sugar Land TX | 107,726 | $136K | 5.5% | 4.1% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Leander TX | 91,132 | $139K | 5.8% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 375 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Allen, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Next door is work for 21% of Allen
The biggest share goes to Plano (16%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Allen workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allen | – | A | B | 28 min | $130,901 |
| Plano | 16% | A | A− | 25 min | $112,253 |
| Lucas | under 3% | A+ | C | 30 min | $221,364 |
| Fairview | under 3% | B+ | C− | 34 min | $109,347 |
| Parker | under 3% | A+ | C | 27 min | $229,080 |
| McKinney | 5% | A | B | 28 min | $124,215 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Allen’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 Allen: questions
What is the median household income in Allen?
$130,901 (±$8,183) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Allen?
6.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Allen?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Allen work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (20%, 22 mi), Plano (16%, 6 mi), Richardson (7%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Allen walkable?
Allen is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Allen without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Allen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Allen
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.