Jobs and the daily commute in Alma
3.5% of residents live below the poverty line; Texas has 13.8%. Commuters spend 27 minutes getting to work on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. Alma has 114 jobs for 183 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Alma
On a workday 181 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 112 people come in from elsewhere.
About 370 people are in Alma on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.62 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 Ennis
Where Alma clocks in
20% 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.
What Alma’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alma, 2013 → 2023: 165 → 114. 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 Alma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Alma’s commute takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alma workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 263 commuters (the 14% 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.
How many miles Alma commutes
About 28% 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 towns next door employ 20% of Alma
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Ennis. Darker towns draw more of Alma’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 Alma: questions
What is the median household income in Alma?
$108,750 (±$50,965) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alma?
3.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alma?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alma work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ennis (20%, 6 mi), Dallas (14%, 38 mi), Fort Worth (6%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alma
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.