Photo: WmCheez · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in El Paso have lower incomes than those in 74% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 10.1 in Houston. Poverty touches 18.4% of residents, against 13.8% across Texas. For jobs and income El Paso is better than 34% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets El Paso apart on work
Jobs & income in El Paso: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds El Paso’s grade up (ahead of 85% 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, El Paso could be anywhere from C to C+.
Who works in El Paso, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 54,717 residents head out to work, 205,440 work right here, and 78,263 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 (1.09 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.
Where El Paso goes to work
Where El Paso clocks in
1% of workers
1% of workers
1% 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.
What the 283,703 jobs in El Paso are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in El Paso, 2013 → 2023: 262,676 → 283,703. 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 El Paso’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From El Paso, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of El Paso workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 277,999 commuters (the 9% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from El Paso
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: El Paso
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% 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 305,134 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 36% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.1% of El Paso households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of El Paso’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
El Paso next to U.S. towns of 478,000 to 922,000: 24th of 29 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hempstead NY | 795,734 | $141K | 5.9% | 5.2% | 28% | A |
| 2 | Seattle WA | 784,777 | $124K | 9.9% | 4.6% | 60% | A− |
| 3 | Brookhaven NY | 496,410 | $120K | 7.0% | 5.2% | 32% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Miami FL | 489,812 | $62K | 19.4% | 5.2% | 34% | C+ |
| 23 | Baltimore MD | 569,997 | $62K | 19.7% | 6.5% | 44% | C+ |
| 24 | El Paso TX | 683,012 | $60K | 18.4% | 6.0% | 79% | C |
| 25 | Fresno CA | 555,549 | $71K | 20.1% | 8.9% | 56% | C |
| 26 | Milwaukee WI | 562,407 | $54K | 22.8% | 6.2% | 45% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Detroit MI | 649,095 | $40K | 32.7% | 14.0% | 31% | C− |
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 El Paso, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
El Paso and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Socorro (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | El Paso workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Paso | – | C | A− | 23 min | $59,745 |
| Socorro | 1% | C | C+ | 27 min | $54,744 |
| Canutillo | under 1% | C | C+ | 22 min | $40,682 |
| Fort Bliss | 1% | C | A− | 14 min | $57,111 |
| Westway | under 1% | C | D | 23 min | $44,852 |
| Anthony | under 1% | C− | B− | 23 min | $54,588 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of El Paso’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 El Paso: questions
What is the median household income in El Paso?
$59,745 (±$1,347) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in El Paso?
18.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from El Paso?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in El Paso work?
79% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Bliss (1%, 3 mi), San Antonio (1%, 498 mi), Horizon City (1%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is El Paso walkable?
El Paso is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around El Paso without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 36% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from El Paso, from the people who make the trip.
More of El Paso
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.