Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Elkhart’s household incomes are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Elkhart for work; outside it, Palestine is the main destination (18%, 9 miles). 28.0% of residents live below the poverty line (Texas 13.8%). The two grades for Elkhart are D for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Elkhart: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
54% 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 ↓
Elkhart is where the jobs are
Elkhart has 754 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Elkhart and Palestine trade workers both ways
Palestine is the top workplace for Elkhart residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Elkhart come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 442 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Elkhart
On income, poverty and job access, Elkhart is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Elkhart’s grade up (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (17.0%) is left out: Elkhart’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, Elkhart could be anywhere from D− to C.
The distance from Elkhart to work
About 54% 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.
Elkhart by day and by night
On a workday 400 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 712 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Elkhart on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Where the people who work in Elkhart live
Where Elkhart clocks in
18% of workers
5% 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 754 jobs in Elkhart are
754 jobs are based in Elkhart.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elkhart, 2013 → 2023: 425 → 754. 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 Elkhart’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Elkhart, about 30 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elkhart workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 468 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.
Driving is how Elkhart gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elkhart is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Elkhart near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 518 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). 4.4% of Elkhart households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elkhart’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Elkhart ranks: 4,352nd of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 27 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,350 | Frazee MN | 1,310 | $47K | 22.3% | 7.1% | 6% | D |
| 4,351 | Ackerman MS | 1,536 | $48K | 21.3% | 23.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,352 | Elkhart TX | 1,265 | $53K | 28.0% | 17.0% | 10% | D |
| 4,353 | Limestone ME | 1,487 | $50K | 16.4% | 6.8% | 23% | D |
| 4,354 | Elba Township MI | 1,275 | $52K | 17.0% | 4.7% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Elkhart, 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 Elkhart: questions
What is the median household income in Elkhart?
$52,891 (±$30,312) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elkhart?
28.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elkhart?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elkhart work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Palestine (18%, 9 mi), Tyler (5%, 50 mi), Dallas (5%, 106 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elkhart walkable?
Elkhart is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elkhart 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 Elkhart, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elkhart
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.