Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Carthage has lower household incomes than 86% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 11.0% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. Jobs and income earn Carthage C+; getting around on foot earns it C+. About one in three work in Carthage; the top destination outside it is Longview (8%, 36 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Carthage apart on work
Carthage is where the jobs are
Carthage has 4,673 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Carthage’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Carthage is Longview, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (222) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Carthage 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 ↓
Carthage makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Carthage are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Carthage residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Carthage
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carthage is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #363 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Carthage’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($51,250, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carthage could be anywhere from D to B+.
Who leaves Carthage for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,921 residents head out to work, 835 work right here, and 3,838 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,600 people are in Carthage on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Carthage
About 35% 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.
The trip to work from Carthage: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carthage workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,504 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.
Carthage works in goods: 42% of its jobs
4,673 jobs are based in Carthage.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carthage, 2013 → 2023: 5,419 → 4,673. 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 Carthage’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Carthage, and from where
Where Carthage clocks in
8% of workers
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.
In Carthage, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carthage is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #366 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% 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 2,715 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). 5.4% of Carthage households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carthage’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,334 U.S. towns of 4,600 to 9,000, Carthage comes 2,287th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| 4 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Alamo Heights TX | 7,632 | $183K | 2.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,285 | Salem IL | 7,035 | $60K | 16.3% | 2.4% | 36% | C+ |
| 2,286 | University Park IL | 7,019 | $74K | 14.4% | 15.9% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,287 | Carthage TX | 6,640 | $51K | 11.0% | 3.2% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,288 | Hamilton Township PA | 8,520 | $74K | 10.5% | 7.7% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,289 | Highlands TX | 6,335 | $52K | 9.8% | 10.1% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,334 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Carthage, 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 Carthage: questions
What is the median household income in Carthage?
$51,250 (±$10,940) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carthage?
11.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carthage?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carthage work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Longview (8%, 36 mi), Houston (4%, 175 mi), Tyler (3%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carthage walkable?
Carthage is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carthage without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carthage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carthage
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.