Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Clarendon have lower incomes than those in 78% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in Clarendon for work; outside it, Amarillo is the main destination (13%, 56 miles). The poverty rate is 9.0%, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Jobs and income earn Clarendon C−; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Clarendon apart
Clarendon’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Clarendon is Amarillo, 56 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (63) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
55% 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 Clarendon are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 100 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; with 468 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Clarendon
On income, poverty and job access, Clarendon is better than 18% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Clarendon’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Clarendon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Clarendon could be anywhere from D to C+.
How many miles Clarendon commutes
About 55% 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.
About 14 minutes to work from Clarendon
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarendon workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 598 commuters (the 10% 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.
A workday in Clarendon: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 358 residents head out to work, 110 work right here, and 536 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Clarendon on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 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.
Commuting out of Clarendon: the destinations
Where Clarendon clocks in
13% 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.
What the 646 jobs in Clarendon are
646 jobs are based in Clarendon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarendon, 2013 → 2023: 762 → 646. 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 Clarendon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Clarendon, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 667 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). 4.6% of Clarendon households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clarendon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Clarendon is 4,219th among 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 25 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,217 | Taylorsville KY | 1,333 | $43K | 28.7% | 2.9% | 8% | C− |
| 4,218 | Hale Center TX | 1,979 | $57K | 18.0% | 8.9% | 5% | C− |
| 4,219 | Clarendon TX | 1,860 | $57K | 9.0% | 1.0% | 24% | C− |
| 4,220 | Bradley Township IL | 1,883 | $71K | 16.7% | 2.3% | 11% | C− |
| 4,221 | Union Township IN | 1,532 | $76K | 19.3% | 4.6% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Clarendon, 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 Clarendon: questions
What is the median household income in Clarendon?
$57,250 (±$13,274) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarendon?
9.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarendon?
14 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarendon work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amarillo (13%, 56 mi), Lubbock (4%, 111 mi), Hedley (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarendon walkable?
Clarendon is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarendon 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 Clarendon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarendon
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.