Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Dalhart has lower unemployment (2.5%) than 77% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers (Texas 14%). Jobs and income earn Dalhart C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. About one in four work in Dalhart; the top destination outside it is Amarillo (7%, 71 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Dalhart, in a few figures
Commutes from Dalhart are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates Dalhart’s commute
The biggest draw, Amarillo, gets only 7% of working residents, and 55% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Dalhart residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Most jobs in Dalhart go to people who live here
Of the 2,263 jobs based in Dalhart, 45% are held by Dalhart residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Few Dalhart workers work from home
Only 2% 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.
Where Dalhart’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dalhart is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #349 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Dalhart’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dalhart could be anywhere from C− to B.
About 13 minutes each way for Dalhart’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dalhart workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,830 commuters (the 2% 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.
Commuting out of Dalhart: the destinations
Where Dalhart clocks in
7% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Dalhart
On a workday 2,667 residents head out to work, 1,017 work right here, and 1,246 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,000 people are in Dalhart on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.61 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.
What Dalhart’s employers do
2,263 jobs are based in Dalhart.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dalhart, 2013 → 2023: 2,667 → 2,263. 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 Dalhart’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Dalhart
About 26% 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.
Dalhart 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, Dalhart is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #58 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Dalhart 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 3,914 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). 2.1% of Dalhart households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dalhart’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Dalhart is 1,985th among 2,947 U.S. towns of 5,900 to 11,300
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Alamo Heights TX | 7,632 | $183K | 2.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Oak Point TX | 6,909 | $126K | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,983 | East End AR | 6,912 | $88K | 14.5% | 9.2% | 5% | C+ |
| 1,984 | Lake Alfred FL | 10,107 | $67K | 9.4% | 6.5% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,985 | Dalhart TX | 8,377 | $72K | 12.3% | 2.5% | 28% | C+ |
| 1,986 | St. Thomas Township PA | 6,027 | $74K | 7.3% | 5.9% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,987 | Schriever LA | 6,690 | $67K | 13.9% | 4.0% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,947 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Dalhart, 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 Dalhart: questions
What is the median household income in Dalhart?
$71,630 (±$8,557) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dalhart?
12.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dalhart?
13 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dalhart work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amarillo (7%, 71 mi), Dumas (2%, 34 mi), Lubbock (2%, 176 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dalhart walkable?
Dalhart is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dalhart without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dalhart, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dalhart
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.