Photo: Lothar1976 · Public domainWork, pay and getting to work in Coolidge
At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (Texas 14%). Only 5% stay in Coolidge for work; outside it, Waco is the main destination (13%, 34 miles). Working residents average 23 minutes each way, where Texas has 27 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Coolidge: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
53% 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 ↓
Coolidge’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Coolidge is Waco, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (49) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The jobs in Coolidge pay better than its residents’ jobs
68% of the jobs based in Coolidge pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 51% of the jobs Coolidge residents hold. 96% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Coolidge. The jobs ↓
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 372 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Coolidge
About 53% 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.
68% of the jobs in Coolidge pay over $3,333 a month
444 jobs are based in Coolidge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Coolidge, 2013 → 2023: 58 → 444. 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 Coolidge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 353 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 425 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 (1.19 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.
Where the trip to work from Coolidge ends
Where Coolidge clocks in
Lines 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.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Coolidge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Coolidge workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 300 commuters (the 4% 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.
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 Coolidge: questions
What is the median household income in Coolidge?
$41,429 (±$19,169) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Coolidge?
9.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Coolidge?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Coolidge work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waco (13%, 34 mi), Dallas (8%, 72 mi), Mexia (8%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Coolidge 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 Coolidge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Coolidge
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.