Beaver Creek Bridge · Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Electra
For 7% of workers, the job is at home; Texas has 14%. The two grades for Electra are C− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in five work in Electra; the top destination outside it is Wichita Falls (27%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Electra, in a few figures
Electra’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Electra is Wichita Falls, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 27% of working residents (199) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Electra than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Electra fell from 711 in 2013 to 443 in 2023, −38%. 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 ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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; with 745 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Electra’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Electra is better than 18% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Electra’s grade up ($69,167, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (19.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Electra’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, Electra could be anywhere from D to C+.
How far it is to work from Electra
About 30% 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.
What the 443 jobs in Electra are
443 jobs are based in Electra.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Electra, 2013 → 2023: 711 → 443. 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 Electra’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Electra by day and by night
On a workday 574 residents head out to work, 171 work right here, and 272 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Electra on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.59 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Commuting out of Electra: the destinations
Where Electra clocks in
27% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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 Electra: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Electra workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 822 commuters (the 7% 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.
Electra is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Electra is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 881 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). 7.0% of Electra households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Electra’s commuters take a bus or train.
Electra is 3,924th of 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,922 | Colwyn PA | 2,465 | $47K | 34.9% | 21.2% | 1% | C− |
| 3,923 | Spencer TN | 1,636 | $47K | 8.8% | 0.5% | 14% | C− |
| 3,924 | Electra TX | 2,238 | $69K | 19.7% | 2.7% | 23% | C− |
| 3,925 | Barker NY | 2,458 | $64K | 20.5% | 7.0% | 3% | C− |
| 3,926 | Noble Township OH | 1,976 | $46K | 8.6% | 3.4% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Electra, 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 Electra: questions
What is the median household income in Electra?
$69,167 (±$16,391) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Electra?
19.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Electra?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Electra work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wichita Falls (27%, 24 mi), Fort Worth (4%, 125 mi), Iowa Park (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Electra walkable?
Electra is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Electra without a car?
0% 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 Electra, from the people who make the trip.
More of Electra
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.