Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Emory have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Emory D; getting around on foot earns it B+. Poverty touches 29.1% of residents (Texas 13.8%). Only 6% work in Emory itself; outside it, Greenville draws the most (9%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Emory, in a few figures
Emory is where the jobs are
Emory has 951 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
Emory’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Emory is Greenville, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (38) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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 403 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Emory: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Emory is better than 5% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Emory’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($36,500, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.1%) is left out: Emory’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, Emory could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who works in Emory, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 377 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 925 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Emory on a workday afternoon, 39% more than live here.
2.4 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.
How far it is to work from Emory
About 41% 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.
Where Emory’s workforce comes from
Where Emory clocks in
9% of workers
8% of workers
4% 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.
Jobs in Emory: what the 951 are
951 jobs are based in Emory.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Emory, 2013 → 2023: 978 → 951. 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 Emory’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Emory: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Emory workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 361 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.
In Emory, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Emory is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Emory 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 388 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). 15.3% of Emory households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Emory’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Emory compares with U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 31 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,296 | Holly Hill SC | 1,280 | $34K | 38.6% | 3.4% | 7% | D |
| 5,297 | Wagner SD | 1,422 | $47K | 15.7% | 8.0% | 43% | D |
| 5,298 | Emory TX | 1,413 | $37K | 29.1% | 3.1% | 6% | D |
| 5,299 | Pembroke Township IL | 1,856 | $32K | 18.0% | 10.8% | 6% | D |
| 5,300 | Franklin Township IN | 1,119 | $39K | 21.7% | 2.6% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Emory, 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 Emory: questions
What is the median household income in Emory?
$36,500 (±$8,724) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Emory?
29.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Emory?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Emory work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (9%, 26 mi), Sulphur Springs (8%, 20 mi), Houston (4%, 215 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Emory walkable?
Emory is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Emory without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Emory, from the people who make the trip.
More of Emory
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.