Fort Brown · Photo: Pi3.124 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Brownsville trail those of 85% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Brownsville C−; getting around on foot earns it B−. 23.7% of residents live below the poverty line, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. More than half work in Brownsville; the top destination outside it is Harlingen (6%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Brownsville at work: what stands out
Most jobs in Brownsville go to people who live here
Of the 61,672 jobs based in Brownsville, 59% are held by Brownsville residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Brownsville are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Brownsville workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Brownsville’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Brownsville earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brownsville is better than 21% of U.S. towns, #514 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Brownsville’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brownsville stays C−.
Brownsville by day and by night
On a workday 32,913 residents head out to work, 36,495 work right here, and 25,177 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 (0.89 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The daily trip from Brownsville: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brownsville workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 71,928 commuters (the 8% 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.
The kinds of work in Brownsville
61,672 jobs are based in Brownsville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brownsville, 2014 → 2024: 54,893 → 61,672. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Brownsville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Brownsville goes to work
Where Brownsville clocks in
6% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
How far Brownsville’s workers travel
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Brownsville walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brownsville is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #255 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Brownsville 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 78,538 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). 7.4% of Brownsville households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Brownsville’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Brownsville next to U.S. towns of 135,000 to 260,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 25% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | McKinney TX | 236,001 | $124K | 5.7% | 3.7% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Round Rock TX | 141,282 | $99K | 7.8% | 3.8% | 17% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Springfield MA | 154,702 | $53K | 25.8% | 8.7% | 37% | C− |
| 139 | Rochester NY | 206,108 | $47K | 27.8% | 7.9% | 41% | C− |
| 140 | Brownsville TX | 192,957 | $52K | 23.7% | 6.2% | 53% | C− |
| 141 | Augusta GA | 206,559 | $56K | 20.0% | 8.5% | 47% | C− |
| 142 | Killeen TX | 161,883 | $61K | 17.4% | 9.7% | 21% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 148 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 52% | 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 Brownsville, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
How Brownsville compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Los Fresnos (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brownsville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brownsville | – | C− | B− | 21 min | $52,130 |
| Encantada-Ranchito-El Calaboz | under 2% | C− | D− | 20 min | $45,505 |
| Port Isabel | under 2% | D | C+ | 14 min | $32,222 |
| Villa Pancho | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Los Fresnos | 2% | C | B | 23 min | $61,938 |
| Reid Hope King | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Del Mar Heights | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| San Benito | 2% | C− | B− | 18 min | $43,639 |
| South Point | under 2% | C− | B− | 27 min | $49,779 |
Same-state neighbors only. Villa Pancho, Reid Hope King and Del Mar Heights: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brownsville’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 2024, 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 Brownsville: questions
What is the median household income in Brownsville?
$52,130 (±$2,503) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brownsville?
23.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brownsville?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brownsville work?
53% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harlingen (6%, 19 mi), McAllen (3%, 50 mi), Houston (2%, 292 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Brownsville walkable?
Brownsville is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brownsville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brownsville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brownsville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.