Austin draws more than half of Garfield’s working residents
A typical one-way commute from Garfield lasts 30 minutes (Texas 27, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Garfield B+; getting around on foot earns it B. Home is the office for <1% of workers; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Garfield
More than half of Garfield works in Austin
457 working residents, 53%, have their main job in Austin, 14 miles away across the town line. That’s far more as work in Garfield itself. The commute map ↓
Garfield makes and builds things
66% of the jobs based in Garfield are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Garfield residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Few Garfield workers work from home
Only 0% 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; with 857 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Garfield’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Garfield is better than 67% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Garfield’s grade up (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($73,349, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (13.6%) is left out: Garfield’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Garfield could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where people from Garfield work
Where Garfield clocks in
53% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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.
Making and building: 66% of jobs based in Garfield
345 jobs are based in Garfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garfield, 2013 → 2023: 111 → 345. 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 Garfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Garfield: about 30 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Garfield workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 725 commuters (the <1% 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.
Who leaves Garfield for work, and who comes in
On a workday 853 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 341 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Garfield on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.40 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.
Half of Garfield commutes less than 15 miles
About 21% 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.
The commute in Garfield is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Garfield is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 726 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 9% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 8.5% of Garfield households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Garfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,921 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600, Garfield comes 1,407th 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 25 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,405 | Nedrose Township ND | 2,204 | $124K | 0.7% | 9.7% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,406 | Riverview DE | 2,596 | $93K | 8.2% | 3.2% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,407 | Garfield TX | 1,926 | $73K | 9.6% | 13.6% | <1% | B+ |
| 1,408 | Fritch TX | 1,751 | $89K | 5.2% | 2.8% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,409 | New Glarus WI | 2,266 | $101K | 3.6% | 6.3% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | 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 Garfield, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Garfield and its neighbors: 53% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Garfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield | – | B+ | B | 30 min | $73,349 |
| Hornsby Bend | under 1% | B | D | 34 min | $89,614 |
| Austin | 53% | B+ | A | 24 min | $93,658 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Austin. Darker towns draw more of Garfield’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 Garfield: questions
What is the median household income in Garfield?
$73,349 (±$11,828) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garfield?
9.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garfield?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Garfield work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (53%, 14 mi), San Antonio (5%, 78 mi), Houston (3%, 132 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Garfield walkable?
Garfield is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Garfield without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Garfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garfield
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.