Blackwell has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Home is the office for 4% of workers (Texas 14%). There are 22 jobs in Blackwell, and 115 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Blackwell itself; outside it, Sweetwater draws the most (23%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in Blackwell: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 114 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 21 people come in from elsewhere.
About 160 people are in Blackwell on a workday afternoon, 37% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where people from Blackwell work
Where Blackwell clocks in
4% 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 Blackwell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blackwell, 2013 → 2023: 8 → 22. 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 Blackwell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Blackwell: about 37 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blackwell workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 108 commuters (the 4% 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 far Blackwell goes to work
About 44% 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.
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 Blackwell: questions
What is the median household income in Blackwell?
$74,219 (±$47,000) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blackwell?
1.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blackwell?
37 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blackwell work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sweetwater (23%, 27 mi), Roscoe (7%, 28 mi), Merkel (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Blackwell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blackwell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blackwell
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.