Photo: en:User:Billy Hathorn · CC BY 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Childress (0.4%) than in 98% of U.S. towns
Childress grades C for jobs and income and C for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 1% of workers; Texas has 14%. Household incomes here are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Childress apart on work
Most jobs in Childress go to people who live here
Of the 1,613 jobs based in Childress, 49% are held by Childress residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
42% 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 ↓
Few Childress workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
Inside Childress’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Childress is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #395 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Childress’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Childress could be anywhere from C− to B.
Childress by day and by night
On a workday 926 residents head out to work, 791 work right here, and 822 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 Childress commutes
About 42% 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.
Getting to work from Childress takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Childress workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,038 commuters (the 1% 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.
6% of working residents work in Amarillo
Where Childress clocks in
6% 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.
Jobs in Childress: what the 1,613 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Childress, 2013 → 2023: 1,570 → 1,613. 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 Childress’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Childress is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Childress is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns, #491 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,059 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). 5.1% of Childress households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Childress’ commuters take a bus or train.
2,404th of 3,428: where Childress ranks among U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,600
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,402 | Thatcher AZ | 5,690 | $83K | 12.1% | 4.6% | 14% | C |
| 2,403 | Greenville IL | 7,469 | $62K | 11.3% | 4.5% | 32% | C |
| 2,404 | Childress TX | 5,650 | $58K | 14.4% | 0.4% | 46% | C |
| 2,405 | Fort Kent ME | 4,151 | $56K | 11.2% | 2.0% | 57% | C |
| 2,406 | Lakeview GA | 4,723 | $61K | 13.1% | 4.3% | <1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,428 | 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 Childress, 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 Childress: questions
What is the median household income in Childress?
$57,644 (±$21,056) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Childress?
14.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Childress?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Childress work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amarillo (6%, 102 mi), Quanah (3%, 32 mi), Lubbock (3%, 110 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Childress walkable?
Childress is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Childress 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 Childress, from the people who make the trip.
More of Childress
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.