Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Gainesville (8.1%) than in 88% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 6% of workers; Texas has 14%. Gainesville grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Gainesville apart on work
Gainesville draws workers from far and wide
The 9,281 jobs in Gainesville are filled from a wide area. Gainesville’s own residents hold 23% and the ten next-biggest home towns 16%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Gainesville 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Gainesville than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Gainesville fell from 12,359 in 2013 to 9,281 in 2023, −25%. 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.
Why Gainesville gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gainesville is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #544 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Gainesville’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gainesville could be anywhere from D to C.
Where Gainesville goes to work
Where Gainesville clocks in
6% of workers
2% 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.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gainesville workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,813 commuters (the 6% 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.
A place that makes things: 33% of Gainesville’s jobs are in goods
9,281 jobs are based in Gainesville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gainesville, 2013 → 2023: 12,359 → 9,281. 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 Gainesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Gainesville by day and by night
On a workday 5,391 residents head out to work, 2,113 work right here, and 7,168 people come in from elsewhere.
About 20,000 people are in Gainesville on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.24 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.
How many miles Gainesville commutes
About 30% 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.
In Gainesville, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gainesville is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #313 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 8,275 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). 6.3% of Gainesville households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gainesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Gainesville compares with U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Rendon TX | 14,632 | $118K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,769 | Laurel MS | 17,662 | $48K | 23.3% | 5.6% | 46% | C− |
| 1,770 | Boone NC | 19,929 | $30K | 51.2% | 12.0% | 37% | C− |
| 1,771 | Gainesville TX | 18,528 | $59K | 19.1% | 8.1% | 28% | C− |
| 1,772 | Pleasantville NJ | 20,853 | $54K | 25.1% | 10.7% | 7% | C− |
| 1,773 | Bessemer AL | 24,984 | $40K | 27.9% | 8.6% | 18% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Gainesville, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
How Gainesville compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gainesville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gainesville | – | C− | B− | 22 min | $58,809 |
| Lindsay | under 2% | A− | D | 27 min | $115,417 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gainesville’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 Gainesville: questions
What is the median household income in Gainesville?
$58,809 (±$3,630) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gainesville?
19.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gainesville?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gainesville work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denton (6%, 29 mi), Dallas (6%, 62 mi), Fort Worth (2%, 60 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gainesville walkable?
Gainesville is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gainesville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gainesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gainesville
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.