Photo: John Cummings · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Fort Davis
About one in five stay in Fort Davis for work; outside it, Midland is the main destination (6%, 145 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 6 minutes, where Texas has 27 and the U.S. 26. Fort Davis has 372 jobs, against 319 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Fort Davis stands out on work
Commutes from Fort Davis are quick
The average trip to work takes 6 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 161 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
47% 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 ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Fort Davis
56% of Fort Davis residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 37% of the jobs based in Fort Davis pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 80% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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 319 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
A commute of about 6 minutes in Fort Davis
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Davis workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 281 commuters (the 20% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Fort Davis
About 47% 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.
Jobs in Fort Davis: what the 372 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Davis, 2013 → 2023: 321 → 372. 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 Davis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 255 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 308 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 (1.17 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.
Where people from Fort Davis work
Where Fort Davis clocks in
6% of workers
6% 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.
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 Davis: questions
What is the poverty rate in Fort Davis?
41.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Davis?
6 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Davis work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Midland (6%, 145 mi), Alpine (6%, 20 mi), El Paso (4%, 174 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fort Davis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Davis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Davis
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.