Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Ennis has lower unemployment (2.9%) than 71% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Ennis; the top destination outside it is Dallas (14%, 33 miles). Jobs and income earn Ennis B+; getting around on foot earns it C. The trip to work takes 28 minutes on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Ennis
Ennis trades workers with the towns around it
Ennis has about as many jobs (10,346) as working residents (10,028), but they are mostly different people: 7,595 residents leave for work each day while 7,913 people come in. Only 24% of the jobs in Ennis are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Ennis’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ennis is Dallas, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (1,355) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Ennis makes and builds things
38% of the jobs based in Ennis are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ennis residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
Ennis draws workers from far and wide
The 10,346 jobs in Ennis are filled from a wide area. Ennis’ own residents hold 24% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Ennis
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ennis is better than 66% of U.S. towns, #218 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Ennis’ grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ennis could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Ennis on a workday afternoon
On a workday 7,595 residents head out to work, 2,433 work right here, and 7,913 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 (1.03 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.
Miles to work from Ennis
About 22% 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.
Making and building: 38% of jobs based in Ennis
10,346 jobs are based in Ennis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ennis, 2013 → 2023: 7,826 → 10,346. 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 Ennis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Ennis’ residents
Where Ennis clocks in
6% 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.
About 28 minutes to work from Ennis
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ennis workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,451 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.
In Ennis, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ennis is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns, #471 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 11,437 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). 5.5% of Ennis households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ennis’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Ennis is 815th among 1,576 U.S. towns of 18,000 to 35,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Colleyville TX | 25,727 | $218K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Corinth TX | 25,297 | $121K | 3.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 813 | Parkville MD | 30,549 | $79K | 8.6% | 5.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 814 | Clinton MS | 26,640 | $75K | 9.6% | 3.2% | 14% | B+ |
| 815 | Ennis TX | 25,694 | $75K | 10.9% | 2.9% | 24% | B+ |
| 816 | Madison Township OH | 26,569 | $89K | 8.9% | 5.5% | 11% | B+ |
| 817 | East San Gabriel CA | 23,410 | $109K | 11.6% | 6.7% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,576 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Ennis, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Next door to Ennis
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ennis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ennis | – | B+ | C | 28 min | $75,074 |
| Garrett | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Alma | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Palmer | under 2% | B+ | C | 33 min | $104,258 |
Same-state neighbors only. Garrett: not graded. Alma: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ennis’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 Ennis: questions
What is the median household income in Ennis?
$75,074 (±$6,719) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ennis?
10.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ennis?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ennis work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (14%, 33 mi), Waxahachie (6%, 13 mi), Fort Worth (5%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ennis walkable?
Ennis is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ennis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ennis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ennis
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.