Household incomes in Donna trail those of 96% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 40.7%; Texas has 13.8%. For jobs and income Donna is better than 21% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (C+). Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Donna and work: the main findings
Donna trades workers with the towns around it
Donna has about as many jobs (6,406) as working residents (6,009), but they are mostly different people: 5,100 residents leave for work each day while 5,497 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Donna are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Donna workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Donna’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Donna has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Donna went from 4,757 in 2013 to 6,406 in 2023, +35%. 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 Donna gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Donna’s grade up (ahead of 80% 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, Donna could be anywhere from D to C+.
How many people are in Donna by day
On a workday 5,100 residents head out to work, 909 work right here, and 5,497 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 (1.07 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.
Jobs in Donna: what the 6,406 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Donna, 2013 → 2023: 4,757 → 6,406. 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 Donna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
17% of working residents work in McAllen
Where Donna clocks in
17% 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.
Donna’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Donna workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,031 commuters (the 5% 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.
The commute from Donna, by distance
About 20% 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.
Most of Donna commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 5,273 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). 11.1% of Donna households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Donna’s commuters take a bus or train.
Donna places 1,747th of 1,999 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Lantana TX | 12,766 | $199K | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,745 | Aldine TX | 17,167 | $44K | 30.3% | 8.5% | 5% | C− |
| 1,746 | Gloversville NY | 14,782 | $52K | 17.6% | 4.4% | 16% | C− |
| 1,747 | Donna TX | 16,698 | $40K | 40.7% | 5.4% | 15% | C− |
| 1,748 | Florida City FL | 13,576 | $47K | 32.4% | 5.3% | 4% | C− |
| 1,749 | Alamo TX | 20,625 | $57K | 25.3% | 9.4% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | 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 Donna, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
The towns around Donna
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Donna workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donna | – | C− | C+ | 25 min | $40,438 |
| Scissors | under 2% | C− | D− | 23 min | $40,938 |
| Midway South | under 2% | C− | D | 20 min | $54,427 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Donna’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 Donna: questions
What is the median household income in Donna?
$40,438 (±$5,175) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Donna?
40.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Donna?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Donna work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McAllen (17%, 14 mi), Weslaco (9%, 3 mi), Edinburg (8%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Donna walkable?
Donna is more walkable than 43% 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 Donna without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Donna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Donna
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.