Photo: Nsaum75 · CC BY-SA 3.0Dickinson has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Only 6% work in Dickinson; the top destination outside it is Houston (27%, 30 miles). Employers in Dickinson report 4,382 jobs, against 9,894 working residents. For jobs and income Dickinson is better than 60% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Dickinson
Dickinson’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Dickinson is Houston, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 27% of working residents (2,658) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Dickinson has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Dickinson went from 2,878 in 2013 to 4,382 in 2023, +52%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Dickinson gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Dickinson’s grade up (ahead of 91% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dickinson could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Miles to work from Dickinson
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.
What Dickinson’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dickinson, 2013 → 2023: 2,878 → 4,382. 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 Dickinson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Dickinson
On a workday 9,334 residents head out to work, 560 work right here, and 3,822 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Dickinson on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
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 people from Dickinson work
Where Dickinson clocks in
27% of workers
9% of workers
8% 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 Dickinson: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dickinson workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,069 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.
For most of Dickinson, work means a drive
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 10,105 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). 6.8% of Dickinson households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dickinson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dickinson is 1,054th of 1,847 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 30,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Colleyville TX | 25,727 | $218K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Corinth TX | 25,297 | $121K | 3.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,052 | Beltsville MD | 19,176 | $100K | 11.9% | 8.1% | 5% | B |
| 1,053 | East Peoria IL | 22,088 | $72K | 11.8% | 3.3% | 12% | B |
| 1,054 | Dickinson TX | 21,908 | $92K | 12.0% | 6.2% | 6% | B |
| 1,055 | Fairview Heights IL | 16,175 | $81K | 8.8% | 6.4% | 9% | B |
| 1,056 | Auburn Hills MI | 25,925 | $84K | 11.1% | 6.0% | 16% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,847 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Dickinson, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Work next door: 15% of Dickinson’s workers
The biggest share goes to League City (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dickinson workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dickinson | – | B | B− | 29 min | $91,779 |
| Texas City | 6% | C+ | B | 26 min | $68,776 |
| League City | 9% | A | B− | 30 min | $121,099 |
| Santa Fe | under 2% | B | C | 28 min | $99,190 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dickinson’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 Dickinson: questions
What is the median household income in Dickinson?
$91,779 (±$11,359) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dickinson?
12.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dickinson?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dickinson work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (27%, 30 mi), League City (9%, 4 mi), Galveston (8%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dickinson walkable?
Dickinson is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dickinson without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dickinson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dickinson
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.