Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Caldwell are lower than in 72% of U.S. towns
21.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Texas. Caldwell grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in seven work in Caldwell; the top destination outside it is Houston (11%, 94 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Caldwell and work: the main findings
Caldwell trades workers with the towns around it
Caldwell has about as many jobs (1,980) as working residents (2,103), but they are mostly different people: 1,753 residents leave for work each day while 1,630 people come in. Only 18% of the jobs in Caldwell are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Caldwell’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Caldwell is Houston, 94 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (237) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
48% 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 ↓
Commutes from Caldwell are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. 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.
Caldwell’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Caldwell is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #529 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Caldwell’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Caldwell could be anywhere from D− to B+.
The daily commute in and out of Caldwell
On a workday 1,753 residents head out to work, 350 work right here, and 1,630 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 (0.94 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.
How many miles Caldwell commutes
About 48% 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.
Time on the road from Caldwell: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Caldwell workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,585 commuters (the 9% 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.
Commuting out of Caldwell: the destinations
Where Caldwell clocks in
11% of workers
10% of workers
10% 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 1,980 jobs based in Caldwell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Caldwell, 2013 → 2023: 2,179 → 1,980. 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 Caldwell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Caldwell, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Caldwell is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #325 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.0% across Texas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,740 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). 6.9% of Caldwell households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Caldwell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Caldwell places 3,111th of 3,692 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 8 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,109 | Grambling LA | 5,314 | — | 52.4% | 5.3% | 10% | C− |
| 3,110 | Davison MI | 5,039 | $49K | 16.1% | 10.3% | 7% | C− |
| 3,111 | Caldwell TX | 4,970 | $61K | 21.2% | 5.8% | 17% | C− |
| 3,112 | Cameron Park TX | 5,955 | $36K | 44.6% | 4.9% | <1% | C− |
| 3,113 | Dewey-Humboldt AZ | 4,604 | $67K | 7.9% | 9.9% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | 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 Caldwell, 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 Caldwell: questions
What is the median household income in Caldwell?
$61,266 (±$24,173) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Caldwell?
21.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Caldwell?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Caldwell work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (11%, 94 mi), College Station (10%, 24 mi), Bryan (10%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Caldwell walkable?
Caldwell is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Caldwell without a car?
0% 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 Caldwell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Caldwell
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.