Photo: Spc. Matthew Marcellus · Public domainFort Bliss has higher unemployment (12.3%) than 97% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 5.2 in El Paso. Jobs and income earn Fort Bliss C; getting around on foot earns it A−. Household incomes here are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss has far more jobs than workers
Fort Bliss has 4,240 jobs, 4.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Jobs in Fort Bliss have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Fort Bliss went from 1,669 in 2013 to 4,240 in 2023, +154%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Fort Bliss are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
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 ↓
Fort Bliss and El Paso trade workers both ways
El Paso is the top workplace for Fort Bliss residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Fort Bliss come from (67% 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Fort Bliss
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Bliss is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #424 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Fort Bliss’ grade up (ahead of 87% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Bliss could be anywhere from C− to B.
The workday shuffle in and out of Fort Bliss
On a workday 975 residents head out to work, 55 work right here, and 4,185 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Fort Bliss on a workday afternoon, 28% more than live here.
4.1 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Fort Bliss
4,240 jobs are based in Fort Bliss.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Bliss, 2013 → 2023: 1,669 → 4,240. 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 Fort Bliss’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Fort Bliss spends getting to work: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Bliss workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,920 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.
The commute from Fort Bliss, by distance
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.
The towns that send workers to Fort Bliss
Where Fort Bliss clocks in
32% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Fort Bliss
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Bliss is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #31 of 642 in Texas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 26.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,394 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.6% of Fort Bliss households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fort Bliss’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000, Fort Bliss comes 1,946th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Lucas TX | 8,896 | $221K | 1.3% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Lantana TX | 12,766 | $199K | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,944 | Wilmington OH | 12,802 | $57K | 17.5% | 4.2% | 29% | C |
| 1,945 | Loyalsock Township PA | 11,393 | $59K | 7.9% | 12.3% | 14% | C |
| 1,946 | Fort Bliss TX | 11,460 | $57K | 13.0% | 12.3% | 5% | C |
| 1,947 | Greenville OH | 12,680 | $47K | 14.2% | 4.0% | 32% | C |
| 1,948 | Hudson FL | 11,254 | $52K | 13.0% | 4.6% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Fort Bliss, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Fort Bliss and its neighbors: 32% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Bliss workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Bliss | – | C | A− | 14 min | $57,111 |
| El Paso | 32% | C | A− | 23 min | $59,745 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to El Paso. Darker towns draw more of Fort Bliss’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 Fort Bliss: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Bliss?
$57,111 (±$4,152) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Bliss?
13.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Bliss?
14 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Bliss work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are El Paso (32%, 3 mi), Las Cruces (3%, 42 mi), San Antonio (3%, 494 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Bliss walkable?
Fort Bliss is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 26% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Bliss without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Bliss, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Bliss
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.