Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0More people are out of work in Corpus Christi (5.1%) than in 63% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 10.1 in Houston. Corpus Christi grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For 5% of workers, the job is at home, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Corpus Christi stands out on work
Most jobs in Corpus Christi go to people who live here
Of the 124,005 jobs based in Corpus Christi, 62% are held by Corpus Christi residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Corpus Christi are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 46 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.
What’s behind Corpus Christi’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Corpus Christi is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #342 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Corpus Christi’s grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Corpus Christi could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Corpus Christi
On a workday 48,255 residents head out to work, 76,325 work right here, and 47,680 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 (1.00 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.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Corpus Christi
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Corpus Christi workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 138,276 commuters (the 5% 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.
Where Corpus Christi goes to work
Where Corpus Christi clocks in
4% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Corpus Christi’s 124,005 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Corpus Christi, 2013 → 2023: 127,635 → 124,005. 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 Corpus Christi’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Corpus Christi
About 27% 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.
Corpus Christi is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Corpus Christi is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #55 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.9% 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 146,076 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 77% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 24% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.9% of Corpus Christi households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Corpus Christi’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Ranked on jobs and income, Corpus Christi is 48th among 67 U.S. towns of 222,000 to 428,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | McKinney TX | 236,001 | $124K | 5.7% | 3.7% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Plano TX | 293,028 | $112K | 6.8% | 4.0% | 23% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Spokane WA | 230,783 | $70K | 13.8% | 5.7% | 52% | C+ |
| 47 | Bakersfield CA | 422,165 | $81K | 16.3% | 7.0% | 47% | C+ |
| 48 | Corpus Christi TX | 317,247 | $67K | 17.1% | 5.1% | 61% | C+ |
| 49 | Wichita KS | 400,987 | $65K | 15.9% | 5.6% | 67% | C+ |
| 50 | Greensboro NC | 308,667 | $62K | 17.0% | 5.1% | 49% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
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 Corpus Christi, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Around Corpus Christi: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Portland (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Corpus Christi workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corpus Christi | – | C+ | A− | 21 min | $67,394 |
| Portland | 1% | B+ | B+ | 21 min | $83,865 |
| Ingleside | 1% | B | C | 21 min | $69,464 |
| Port Aransas | 1% | B+ | A+ | 18 min | $88,947 |
| Ingleside on the Bay | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Aransas Pass | under 1% | C+ | B− | 23 min | $63,021 |
Same-state neighbors only. Ingleside on the Bay: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Corpus Christi’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 Corpus Christi: questions
What is the median household income in Corpus Christi?
$67,394 (±$1,835) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Corpus Christi?
17.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Corpus Christi?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Corpus Christi work?
61% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (4%, 177 mi), San Antonio (4%, 144 mi), Austin (2%, 179 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Corpus Christi walkable?
Corpus Christi is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Corpus Christi without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 24% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Corpus Christi, from the people who make the trip.
More of Corpus Christi
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.