Gardendale’s household incomes are higher than in 80% of U.S. towns
Gardendale grades A for jobs and income and D for walkability. Below the poverty line: 1.5% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. For 2% of workers, the job is at home, against 14% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Gardendale in brief
Jobs in Gardendale have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Gardendale went from 363 in 2013 to 1,102 in 2023, +204%. The jobs ↓
Gardendale trades workers with the towns around it
Gardendale has about as many jobs (1,102) as working residents (1,165), but they are mostly different people: 1,141 residents leave for work each day while 1,078 people come in. Only 2% of the jobs in Gardendale are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Gardendale and Odessa trade workers both ways
Odessa is the top workplace for Gardendale residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Gardendale come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most jobs in Gardendale pay over $40,000 a year
80% of the jobs based in Gardendale pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Few Gardendale workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Why Gardendale gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Gardendale is better than 90% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.1%) is left out: Gardendale’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, Gardendale could be anywhere from B to A+.
Goods jobs make up 38% of work in Gardendale
1,102 jobs are based in Gardendale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gardendale, 2013 → 2023: 363 → 1,102. 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 Gardendale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Gardendale: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,141 residents head out to work, 24 work right here, and 1,078 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 (0.95 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.
32% of working residents work in Odessa
Where Gardendale clocks in
32% of workers
24% 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.
The daily trip from Gardendale: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gardendale workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 690 commuters (the 2% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Gardendale
About 16% 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.
For most of Gardendale, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gardendale is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 704 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). 5.9% of Gardendale households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gardendale’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Gardendale is 302nd of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 28 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 300 | Twin Grove IL | 1,458 | $116K | 4.2% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| 301 | Etna OH | 1,440 | $114K | 7.4% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| 302 | Gardendale TX | 1,544 | $104K | 1.5% | 0.1% | 2% | A |
| 303 | Slater IA | 1,617 | $98K | 3.8% | 1.1% | 4% | A |
| 304 | Crystal Lawns IL | 1,766 | $82K | 7.0% | 0.9% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Gardendale, 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 Gardendale: questions
What is the median household income in Gardendale?
$103,750 (±$43,619) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gardendale?
1.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gardendale?
31 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gardendale work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Odessa (32%, 9 mi), Midland (24%, 14 mi), West Odessa (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gardendale walkable?
Gardendale is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gardendale 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 Gardendale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gardendale
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.