Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Fairfield have lower incomes than those in 91% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 21.5% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. The two grades for Fairfield are C for jobs and income and C for walkability. 5% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fairfield, in a few figures
A big share show a job far from home
55% 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 ↓
Fairfield’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fairfield is Dallas, 82 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (126) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Fairfield are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Fairfield: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fairfield is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #457 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Fairfield’s grade up (1.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($47,250, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fairfield could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Near or far: the trip to work from Fairfield
About 55% 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.
Fairfield’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairfield workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,163 commuters (the 5% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Fairfield
On a workday 1,219 residents head out to work, 335 work right here, and 1,708 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Fairfield on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 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.
8% of working residents work in Dallas
Where Fairfield clocks in
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 Fairfield: what the 2,043 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairfield, 2013 → 2023: 2,597 → 2,043. 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 Fairfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Fairfield commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairfield is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns, #424 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 1,221 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). 3.9% of Fairfield households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fairfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fairfield ranks: 3,470th of 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,468 | Bethany MO | 2,956 | $48K | 17.1% | 0.8% | 34% | C |
| 3,469 | Cisco TX | 3,980 | $59K | 6.3% | 5.9% | 24% | C |
| 3,470 | Fairfield TX | 3,029 | $47K | 21.5% | 1.0% | 22% | C |
| 3,471 | Spice Valley Township IN | 2,217 | $82K | 15.6% | 3.6% | 1% | C |
| 3,472 | Deenwood GA | 2,360 | $57K | 11.0% | 13.9% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Fairfield, 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 Fairfield: questions
What is the median household income in Fairfield?
$47,250 (±$13,630) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairfield?
21.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairfield?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairfield work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (8%, 82 mi), Fort Worth (4%, 101 mi), Corsicana (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fairfield walkable?
Fairfield is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairfield 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 Fairfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairfield
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.