Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Households in Gatesville have lower incomes than those in 78% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 4% of workers, next to 14% for Texas as a whole. Poverty touches 9.1% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. The two grades for Gatesville are C 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
Getting to work from Gatesville, in brief
Gatesville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Gatesville is Austin, 79 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (349) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
50% 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 ↓
Few Gatesville workers work from home
Only 4% 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.
How Gatesville earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gatesville is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #392 of 642 in Texas. The poverty rate holds Gatesville’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($57,217, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gatesville could be anywhere from D to B+.
Miles to work from Gatesville
About 50% 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.
About 23 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gatesville workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,938 commuters (the 4% 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.
Gatesville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,376 residents head out to work, 927 work right here, and 2,359 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 (0.76 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.
8% of working residents work in Austin
Where Gatesville clocks in
8% 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.
Jobs in Gatesville: what the 3,286 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gatesville, 2013 → 2023: 3,487 → 3,286. 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 Gatesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Gatesville is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gatesville is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns, #380 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Gatesville 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 3,051 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). 6.0% of Gatesville households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gatesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,220 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 22,000, Gatesville comes 1,694th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 4 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Lantana TX | 12,766 | $199K | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,692 | West Lealman FL | 14,944 | $52K | 17.6% | 5.3% | 2% | C |
| 1,693 | Justice IL | 12,285 | $57K | 19.4% | 6.7% | 3% | C |
| 1,694 | Gatesville TX | 16,422 | $57K | 9.1% | 4.5% | 22% | C |
| 1,695 | Bardstown KY | 14,161 | $51K | 14.7% | 4.0% | 34% | C |
| 1,696 | Huron SD | 14,607 | $61K | 16.1% | 2.6% | 57% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,220 | 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 Gatesville, 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 Gatesville: questions
What is the median household income in Gatesville?
$57,217 (±$13,159) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gatesville?
9.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gatesville?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gatesville work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (8%, 79 mi), Waco (6%, 34 mi), Temple (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gatesville walkable?
Gatesville is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gatesville 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 Gatesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gatesville
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.