Copperas Cove Stagestop and Post Office · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0More people are out of work in Copperas Cove (7.6%) than in 86% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Copperas Cove for work; outside it, Killeen is the main destination (14%, 11 miles). Copperas Cove grades C for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 29 minutes, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Copperas Cove apart
Inside Copperas Cove’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Copperas Cove is better than 33% of U.S. towns, #408 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Copperas Cove’s grade up (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Copperas Cove could be anywhere from C to B−.
Copperas Cove’s commute, mile by mile
About 36% 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.
In and out of Copperas Cove on a workday
On a workday 9,319 residents head out to work, 2,484 work right here, and 5,305 people come in from elsewhere.
About 36,000 people are in Copperas Cove on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.66 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The places Copperas Cove commutes to
Where Copperas Cove clocks in
14% of workers
7% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Copperas Cove
7,789 jobs are based in Copperas Cove.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Copperas Cove, 2013 → 2023: 7,907 → 7,789. 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 Copperas Cove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Copperas Cove: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Copperas Cove workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,230 commuters (the 11% 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.
The commute in Copperas Cove is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Copperas Cove is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #391 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Copperas Cove near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 17,073 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). 7.7% of Copperas Cove households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Copperas Cove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Copperas Cove is 913th of 1,086 U.S. towns of 28,000 to 54,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Coppell TX | 41,386 | $146K | 5.4% | 2.6% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 911 | Laplace LA | 28,343 | $69K | 13.1% | 10.1% | 12% | C |
| 912 | Salina KS | 46,094 | $62K | 13.0% | 5.2% | 61% | C |
| 913 | Copperas Cove TX | 40,118 | $71K | 11.4% | 7.6% | 21% | C |
| 914 | McMinnville OR | 34,647 | $74K | 16.0% | 5.5% | 35% | C |
| 915 | Woonsocket RI | 44,580 | $61K | 18.7% | 6.8% | 15% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,086 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Copperas Cove, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Next door to Copperas Cove
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Copperas Cove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copperas Cove | – | C | C+ | 29 min | $71,225 |
| Fort Cavazos | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Fort Cavazos: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Copperas Cove’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Copperas Cove: questions
What is the median household income in Copperas Cove?
$71,225 (±$3,593) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Copperas Cove?
11.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Copperas Cove?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Copperas Cove work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Killeen (14%, 11 mi), Austin (7%, 58 mi), Temple (6%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Copperas Cove walkable?
Copperas Cove is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Copperas Cove without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Copperas Cove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Copperas Cove
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.