Household incomes in Ames trail those of 98% of U.S. towns
For 3% of workers, the job is at home; Texas has 14%. 25.4% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. Jobs and income earn Ames D−; getting around on foot earns it D−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Ames
Ames’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ames is Houston, 43 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (74) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Ames is a place people come home to
There are 25 jobs based in Ames, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Ames has about 950 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Ames workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 361 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Ames: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Ames is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Ames’ grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($36,188, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.4%) is left out: Ames’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, Ames could be anywhere from D− to C.
Half of Ames commutes less than 41 miles
About 29% 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.
A workday in Ames: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 360 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 24 people come in from elsewhere.
About 950 people are in Ames on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.07 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.
Ames’ commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ames workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 489 commuters (the 3% 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.
20% of working residents work in Houston
Where Ames clocks in
20% of workers
5% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 68% of the jobs in Ames
25 jobs are based in Ames.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ames, 2013 → 2023: 151 → 25. 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 Ames’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Ames commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ames is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ames 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 503 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). 11.8% of Ames households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ames’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Ames compares with U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 27 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,514 | Purdy MO | 1,062 | $37K | 36.9% | 12.3% | 5% | D− |
| 4,515 | Seven Points TX | 1,530 | $40K | 26.6% | 10.0% | 3% | D− |
| 4,516 | Ames TX | 1,282 | $36K | 25.4% | 7.4% | <1% | D− |
| 4,517 | Johnson VT | 1,326 | $49K | 17.5% | 14.4% | 2% | D− |
| 4,518 | Teviston CA | 1,182 | $38K | 39.1% | 30.2% | 2% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Ames, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Bordering towns draw 10% of Ames’ workers
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Liberty. Darker towns draw more of Ames’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 Ames: questions
What is the median household income in Ames?
$36,188 (±$20,620) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ames?
25.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ames?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ames work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (20%, 43 mi), Liberty (10%, 3 mi), Baytown (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ames walkable?
Ames is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ames without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ames, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ames
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.