Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in De Kalb have lower incomes than those in 88% of U.S. towns
18.8% of residents are in poverty, against 13.8% across Texas. For jobs and income De Kalb is better than 9% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (C+). Home is the office for 2% of workers, against 14% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: De Kalb in brief
De Kalb’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside De Kalb is Texarkana, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (58) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in De Kalb than ten years ago
Jobs counted in De Kalb fell from 674 in 2013 to 441 in 2023, −35%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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 480 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How De Kalb earns its Jobs & income grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides De Kalb’s grade.
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: De Kalb’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, De Kalb could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Miles to work from De Kalb
About 34% 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.
The kinds of work in De Kalb
441 jobs are based in De Kalb.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in De Kalb, 2013 → 2023: 674 → 441. 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 De Kalb’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 405 residents head out to work, 75 work right here, and 366 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 (0.92 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.
12% of working residents work in Texarkana
Where De Kalb clocks in
12% of workers
4% 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.
About 23 minutes to work from De Kalb
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of De Kalb workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 765 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.
For most of De Kalb, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 778 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). 12.3% of De Kalb households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of De Kalb’s commuters take a bus or train.
De Kalb places 5,319th of 6,308 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 34 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,317 | Fayette OH | 1,278 | $50K | 24.5% | 1.9% | 4% | D |
| 5,318 | Latta SC | 1,235 | $48K | 22.4% | 13.4% | 5% | D |
| 5,319 | De Kalb TX | 1,455 | $50K | 18.8% | 3.8% | 16% | D |
| 5,320 | Fork Township MI | 1,700 | $56K | 14.7% | 7.7% | 4% | D |
| 5,321 | Lebanon NY | 1,328 | $67K | 24.2% | 19.3% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 De Kalb, 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 De Kalb: questions
What is the median household income in De Kalb?
$50,104 (±$10,862) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in De Kalb?
18.8%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from De Kalb?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in De Kalb work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Texarkana (12%, 31 mi), New Boston (6%, 12 mi), Mount Pleasant (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is De Kalb walkable?
De Kalb is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around De Kalb without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from De Kalb, from the people who make the trip.
More of De Kalb
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.