Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, income and commuting in Fort Worth, TX
About one in three stay in Fort Worth for work; outside it, Dallas is the main destination (8%, 34 miles). The two grades for Fort Worth are B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. At 27 minutes each way, commutes from Fort Worth run about the Texas average.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Fort Worth in brief
Fort Worth’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fort Worth is Dallas, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (33,406) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fort Worth has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Fort Worth went from 339,403 in 2013 to 462,352 in 2023, +36%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Fort Worth’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Worth is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #247 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Fort Worth’s grade up (ahead of 96% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Worth stays B.
How far it is to work from Fort Worth
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.
66% of the jobs in Fort Worth pay over $3,333 a month
462,352 jobs are based in Fort Worth.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Worth, 2013 → 2023: 339,403 → 462,352. 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 Worth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Fort Worth, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 260,396 residents head out to work, 153,906 work right here, and 308,446 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 (1.12 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.
The towns that employ Fort Worth’s residents
Where Fort Worth clocks in
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.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Fort Worth
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Worth workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 408,000 commuters (the 14% 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 in Fort Worth is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Worth is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #91 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of 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 474,214 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 57% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 20% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% 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). 5.5% of Fort Worth households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fort Worth’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Ranked on jobs and income, Fort Worth is 8th among 14 U.S. towns of 720,000 to 1,388,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hempstead NY | 795,734 | $141K | 5.9% | 5.2% | 28% | A |
| 2 | San Jose CA | 989,814 | $146K | 8.1% | 5.1% | 36% | A− |
| 3 | Seattle WA | 784,777 | $124K | 9.9% | 4.6% | 60% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Austin TX | 1,002,632 | $94K | 12.0% | 4.7% | 65% | B+ |
| 7 | Charlotte NC | 964,784 | $82K | 11.7% | 4.6% | 64% | B |
| 8 | Fort Worth TX | 1,028,117 | $80K | 13.1% | 4.8% | 37% | B |
| 9 | Nashville TN | 745,904 | $78K | 13.9% | 4.5% | 63% | B |
| 10 | Dallas TX | 1,329,491 | $71K | 16.7% | 4.9% | 43% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Columbus OH | 938,396 | $66K | 18.1% | 5.1% | 52% | B− |
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 Worth, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Around Fort Worth: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Arlington (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Worth workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Worth | – | B | B+ | 27 min | $79,507 |
| Arlington | 6% | B− | B | 27 min | $75,171 |
| Benbrook | under 2% | A− | B− | 25 min | $86,292 |
| Rendon | under 2% | A+ | D | 32 min | $117,888 |
| Euless | under 2% | B+ | B− | 25 min | $82,167 |
| Grand Prairie | 2% | B | C+ | 28 min | $81,619 |
| Lakeside | under 2% | A | C | 34 min | $112,321 |
| Forest Hill | under 2% | B− | B | 29 min | $68,457 |
| Haltom City | 1% | B− | B− | 25 min | $59,057 |
| Northlake | under 2% | A | C+ | 32 min | $123,469 |
| Everman | under 2% | C | C | 27 min | $68,311 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Worth’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 Worth: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Worth?
$79,507 (±$966) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Worth?
13.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Worth?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Worth work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (8%, 34 mi), Arlington (6%, 14 mi), Irving (4%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Worth walkable?
Fort Worth is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Worth without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 20% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Worth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Worth
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.