Photo: The original uploader was Billy Hathorn at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Goldthwaite are lower than in 81% of U.S. towns
For 2% of workers, the job is at home; Texas has 14%. 4.7% of residents live below the poverty line; Texas has 13.8%. Goldthwaite grades C for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Goldthwaite: the gist
Goldthwaite’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Goldthwaite is Austin, 93 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (73) 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 ↓
Commutes from Goldthwaite are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. 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 800 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Goldthwaite’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Goldthwaite is better than 30% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Goldthwaite’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.4%) is left out: Goldthwaite’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, Goldthwaite could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How far it is to work from Goldthwaite
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.
Getting to work from Goldthwaite takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Goldthwaite workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 889 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.
Who commutes out of Goldthwaite, and who commutes in
On a workday 562 residents head out to work, 238 work right here, and 508 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 (0.93 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.
9% of working residents work in Austin
Where Goldthwaite clocks in
9% of workers
3% 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.
Jobs in Goldthwaite: what the 746 are
746 jobs are based in Goldthwaite.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Goldthwaite, 2013 → 2023: 680 → 746. 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 Goldthwaite’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Goldthwaite, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Goldthwaite is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 905 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). 3.4% of Goldthwaite households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Goldthwaite’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Goldthwaite ranks 3,652nd of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 27 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,650 | Mercersburg PA | 1,492 | $66K | 10.4% | 4.8% | 9% | C |
| 3,651 | Gaston SC | 1,651 | $60K | 18.0% | 2.5% | 1% | C |
| 3,652 | Goldthwaite TX | 1,774 | $55K | 4.7% | 4.4% | 30% | C |
| 3,653 | Poydras LA | 2,260 | $59K | 24.3% | 1.3% | 3% | C |
| 3,654 | Fairview Park IN | 1,420 | $63K | 11.6% | 5.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | 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 Goldthwaite, 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 Goldthwaite: questions
What is the median household income in Goldthwaite?
$54,808 (±$15,336) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Goldthwaite?
4.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Goldthwaite?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Goldthwaite work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (9%, 93 mi), San Antonio (3%, 137 mi), Brownwood (3%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Goldthwaite walkable?
Goldthwaite is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Goldthwaite 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 Goldthwaite, from the people who make the trip.
More of Goldthwaite
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.