Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Ballinger are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 8.3% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. For jobs and income Ballinger is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+). At home: 5% of workers have no commute at all (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Ballinger: the gist
Ballinger’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ballinger is San Angelo, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (205) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Ballinger are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Ballinger
The poverty rate holds Ballinger’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ballinger could be anywhere from D to B.
The distance from Ballinger to work
About 31% 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.
Each way, about 18 minutes from Ballinger
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ballinger workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,487 commuters (the 5% 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.
Who leaves Ballinger for work, and who comes in
On a workday 855 residents head out to work, 687 work right here, and 943 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.06 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.
13% of working residents work in San Angelo
Where Ballinger clocks in
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.
The kinds of work in Ballinger
1,630 jobs are based in Ballinger.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ballinger, 2013 → 2023: 1,786 → 1,630. 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 Ballinger’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Ballinger walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,564 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). 1.7% of Ballinger households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ballinger’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ballinger ranks: 3,385th of 4,535 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,383 | Gregg Township PA | 3,594 | $80K | 39.8% | 10.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,384 | Corning AR | 3,065 | $50K | 14.8% | 2.1% | 26% | C |
| 3,385 | Ballinger TX | 3,499 | $59K | 8.3% | 5.2% | 45% | C |
| 3,386 | Mecosta Township MI | 2,891 | $61K | 19.1% | 2.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,387 | Bethel WA | 4,394 | $80K | 16.2% | 11.5% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ballinger, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
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 Ballinger: questions
What is the median household income in Ballinger?
$58,870 (±$5,269) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ballinger?
8.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ballinger?
18 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ballinger work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Angelo (13%, 36 mi), Abilene (4%, 51 mi), Midland (3%, 128 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ballinger walkable?
Ballinger is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ballinger 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 Ballinger, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ballinger
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.