Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Denison are lower than in 62% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 19 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). Poverty touches 15.0% of residents, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. The two grades for Denison are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Denison stands out on work
Denison trades workers with the towns around it
Denison has about as many jobs (10,723) as working residents (11,904), but they are mostly different people: 9,240 residents leave for work each day while 8,059 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Denison are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Denison and Sherman trade workers both ways
Sherman is the top workplace for Denison residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Denison come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Denison are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Denison has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Denison went from 7,627 in 2013 to 10,723 in 2023, +41%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside Denison’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Denison is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #365 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Denison’s grade up (ahead of 54% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Denison could be anywhere from C− to B.
The workday shuffle in and out of Denison
On a workday 9,240 residents head out to work, 2,664 work right here, and 8,059 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 (0.90 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.
18% of working residents work in Sherman
Where Denison clocks in
18% 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.
Time on the road from Denison: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Denison workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,219 commuters (the 10% 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.
What Denison’s employers do
10,723 jobs are based in Denison.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Denison, 2013 → 2023: 7,627 → 10,723. 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 Denison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Denison to work
About 35% 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 commute in Denison is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Denison is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #322 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% 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 11,316 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). 4.8% of Denison households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Denison’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Denison ranks: 1,159th of 1,477 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 36,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Colleyville TX | 25,727 | $218K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Corinth TX | 25,297 | $121K | 3.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,157 | Aberdeen SD | 27,961 | $64K | 13.8% | 3.7% | 67% | C+ |
| 1,158 | Norfolk NE | 26,677 | $59K | 14.3% | 3.2% | 47% | C+ |
| 1,159 | Denison TX | 26,822 | $67K | 15.0% | 4.6% | 22% | C+ |
| 1,160 | Sheridan WY | 20,015 | $63K | 12.5% | 2.9% | 65% | C+ |
| 1,161 | Evans CO | 22,500 | $76K | 13.5% | 7.6% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,477 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Denison, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Denison and its neighbors: 18% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Sherman. Darker towns draw more of Denison’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 Denison: questions
What is the median household income in Denison?
$67,365 (±$6,274) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Denison?
15.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Denison?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Denison work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sherman (18%, 10 mi), Dallas (6%, 68 mi), Plano (4%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Denison walkable?
Denison is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Denison without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Denison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Denison
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.