Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Eden earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Eden are D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 17.3% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. 3% of workers work from home; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Eden apart on work
A big share show a job far from home
59% 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 ↓
Eden’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Eden is San Angelo, 39 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (26) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Eden than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Eden fell from 664 in 2013 to 455 in 2023, −31%. 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 234 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Eden’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Eden is better than 4% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Eden’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down.
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Eden’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, Eden could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Where in the region Eden works
About 59% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Eden
455 jobs are based in Eden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Eden, 2013 → 2023: 664 → 455. 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 Eden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Eden
On a workday 198 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 419 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Eden on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Who travels to work in Eden, and from where
Where Eden clocks in
3% 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.
The trip to work from Eden: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Eden workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 420 commuters (the 3% 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.
Eden is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Eden is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 432 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). 3.7% of Eden households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Eden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Eden and other U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Bartonville TX | 1,937 | $149K | 4.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,822 | Dawson Springs KY | 2,231 | $33K | 30.5% | 11.3% | 17% | D− |
| 4,823 | West Branch MI | 2,370 | $41K | 23.1% | 7.0% | 23% | D− |
| 4,824 | Eden TX | 2,248 | $47K | 17.3% | 2.7% | 15% | D− |
| 4,825 | La Luz NM | 1,797 | $47K | 15.0% | 26.4% | 4% | D− |
| 4,826 | Augusta AR | 1,813 | $51K | 28.7% | 4.2% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Eden, 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 Eden: questions
What is the median household income in Eden?
$47,321 (±$23,608) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Eden?
17.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Eden?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Eden work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Angelo (11%, 39 mi), Lubbock (6%, 201 mi), Paint Rock (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Eden walkable?
Eden is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Eden without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Eden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Eden
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.