Households in Freer earn less than those in 67% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Freer; the top destination outside it is Corpus Christi (9%, 89 miles). 20.1% of residents live below the poverty line, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Freer grades D for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Freer, in a few figures
A big share show a job far from home
61% 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 ↓
Freer’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Freer is Corpus Christi, 89 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (61) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Freer than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Freer fell from 992 in 2013 to 500 in 2023, −50%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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 675 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Freer: the grade in detail
Household income holds Freer’s grade up ($64,145, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (13.2%) is left out: Freer’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Freer could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How far Freer’s workers travel
About 61% 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.
Inside Freer’s 500 jobs
500 jobs are based in Freer.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Freer, 2013 → 2023: 992 → 500. 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 Freer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Freer: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 586 residents head out to work, 89 work right here, and 411 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.
0.74 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Freer goes to work
Where Freer clocks in
9% 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.
Freer’s commute takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Freer workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 765 commuters (the 8% 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 Freer, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Freer is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Freer near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 829 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). 4.0% of Freer households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Freer’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100, Freer ranks 4,681st of 5,328 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Bartonville TX | 1,937 | $149K | 4.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,679 | Gila Bend AZ | 1,816 | $52K | 12.2% | 0.0% | 22% | D |
| 4,680 | Stockton IL | 1,669 | $47K | 15.6% | 4.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,681 | Freer TX | 2,308 | $64K | 20.1% | 13.2% | 13% | D |
| 4,682 | Markey Township MI | 2,452 | $52K | 12.2% | 4.1% | 3% | D |
| 4,683 | London CA | 1,800 | $49K | 44.4% | 12.4% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Freer, 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 Freer: questions
What is the median household income in Freer?
$64,145 (±$28,792) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Freer?
20.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Freer?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Freer work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Corpus Christi (9%, 89 mi), Alice (7%, 35 mi), Houston (5%, 236 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Freer walkable?
Freer is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Freer 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 Freer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Freer
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.