Dealey Plaza Historic District · Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Dallas has 1.6 jobs for every working resident: 677,006 people commute in to work
Jobs & income B−: better than 52% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #287 of 642 in Texas.
Walkability A: more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns · #12 of 642 in Texas.
Household incomes here are lower than in 57% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 26 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). About two in five work in Dallas; the top destination outside it is Irving (6%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Dallas
What’s behind Dallas’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dallas is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #287 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Dallas’ grade up (among the top U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dallas stays B−.
Dallas fills up on a workday
On a workday 319,975 residents head out to work, 238,155 work right here, and 677,006 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,687,000 people are in Dallas on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Where Dallas’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Dallas clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
69% of the jobs in Dallas pay over $3,333 a month
915,161 jobs are based in Dallas. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Dallas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dallas, 2013 → 2023: 766,436 → 915,161. 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.
About 26 minutes each way, about the TX average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dallas workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 557,757 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Dallas commutes less than 10 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Dallas is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dallas is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #12 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 662,654 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 50% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 94% 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). 8.8% of Dallas households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Dallas’ commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Dallas is 7th of 11 U.S. towns of 931,000 to 1,795,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Dallas, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose CA | 989,814 | $146K | 8.1% | 5.1% | 36% | A− |
| 2 | Austin TX | 1,002,632 | $94K | 12.0% | 4.7% | 65% | B+ |
| 3 | San Diego CA | 1,406,106 | $108K | 11.0% | 6.0% | 61% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Fort Worth TX | 1,028,117 | $80K | 13.1% | 4.8% | 37% | B |
| 6 | Phoenix AZ | 1,665,481 | $81K | 13.7% | 5.0% | 55% | B |
| 7 | Dallas TX | 1,329,491 | $71K | 16.7% | 4.9% | 43% | B− |
| 8 | Jacksonville FL | 1,017,689 | $70K | 14.5% | 4.6% | 70% | B− |
| 9 | Columbus OH | 938,396 | $66K | 18.1% | 5.1% | 52% | B− |
| 10 | San Antonio TX | 1,548,422 | $65K | 17.1% | 6.2% | 67% | C+ |
| 11 | Philadelphia PA | 1,574,281 | $62K | 21.4% | 8.1% | 58% | 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.
10% of Dallas works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Irving (6%). Darker towns draw more of Dallas’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dallas workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas | – | B− | A | 26 min | $70,518 |
| Rowlett | under 3% | A | B− | 31 min | $112,081 |
| Garland | 2% | B | B+ | 30 min | $76,320 |
| Rockwall | under 3% | A | B | 32 min | $115,580 |
| Irving | 6% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $81,830 |
| Cedar Hill | under 3% | B | B− | 31 min | $101,909 |
| Grand Prairie | under 3% | B | C+ | 28 min | $81,619 |
| Carrollton | 2% | A | A− | 24 min | $101,396 |
| Mesquite | under 3% | B− | B | 32 min | $72,537 |
| Coppell | under 3% | A+ | B | 24 min | $146,235 |
| Heath | under 3% | A | C+ | 35 min | $220,828 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Dallas: questions
What is the median household income in Dallas?
$70,518 (±$817) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dallas?
16.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dallas?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dallas work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irving (6%, 13 mi), Plano (5%, 18 mi), Richardson (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dallas walkable?
Dallas is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dallas without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 50% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dallas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dallas
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.