Photo: Reading Associate 17 · CC BY-SA 4.0Earning a living in Giddings
About one in four work in Giddings; the top destination outside it is Austin (12%, 50 miles). For jobs and income Giddings is better than 33% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (B). A typical one-way commute from Giddings lasts 26 minutes (Texas 27, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Giddings at work: what stands out
Giddings’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Giddings is Austin, 50 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (268) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Giddings is where the jobs are
Giddings has 3,880 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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 ↓
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.
Giddings’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Household income holds Giddings’ grade up ($72,913, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Giddings could be anywhere from D to A−.
Half of Giddings commutes less than 41 miles
About 36% 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 daily commute in and out of Giddings
On a workday 1,722 residents head out to work, 602 work right here, and 3,278 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,000 people are in Giddings on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Commuting in to Giddings: where workers come from
Where Giddings clocks in
12% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 34% of the jobs in Giddings
3,880 jobs are based in Giddings.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Giddings, 2013 → 2023: 4,304 → 3,880. 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 Giddings’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Giddings: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Giddings workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,356 commuters (the 10% 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.
Getting around Giddings: mostly by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,632 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). 2.7% of Giddings households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Giddings’ commuters take a bus or train.
2,523rd of 3,541: where Giddings ranks among U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,521 | German Township PA | 4,483 | $62K | 7.6% | 6.0% | 6% | C |
| 2,522 | Marine City MI | 3,997 | $68K | 7.6% | 9.2% | 9% | C |
| 2,523 | Giddings TX | 5,425 | $73K | 14.4% | 4.6% | 26% | C |
| 2,524 | Happy Valley CA | 5,944 | $92K | 8.9% | 11.3% | 6% | C |
| 2,525 | Sharon Hill PA | 5,995 | $75K | 27.3% | 16.6% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Giddings, 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 Giddings: questions
What is the median household income in Giddings?
$72,913 (±$20,716) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Giddings?
14.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Giddings?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Giddings work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (12%, 50 mi), San Antonio (4%, 108 mi), Houston (4%, 96 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Giddings walkable?
Giddings is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Giddings without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Giddings, from the people who make the trip.
More of Giddings
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.