Earning a living in Gruver
2% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Jobs and income earn Gruver C−; getting around on foot earns it B. About one in five stay in Gruver for work; outside it, Spearman is the main destination (9%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Gruver and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 Gruver are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Gruver 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; with 359 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Gruver’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Gruver is better than 23% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Gruver’s grade up ($72,857, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.7%) is left out: Gruver’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, Gruver could be anywhere from D to B−.
The distance from Gruver to work
About 31% 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 Gruver takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gruver workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 687 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 Gruver, and who commutes in
On a workday 283 residents head out to work, 76 work right here, and 263 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 (0.94 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.
The places Gruver commutes to
Where Gruver clocks in
9% of workers
6% 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.
Inside Gruver’s 339 jobs
339 jobs are based in Gruver.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gruver, 2013 → 2023: 378 → 339. 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 Gruver’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Gruver start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gruver is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 702 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). 1.8% of Gruver households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gruver’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Gruver is 2,015th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Weston TX | 1,140 | $144K | 2.8% | 0.7% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Randolph AFB TX | 1,240 | $113K | 2.8% | 3.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,013 | Goreville IL | 1,055 | $69K | 15.2% | 1.1% | 4% | C− |
| 2,014 | Oran MO | 1,195 | $65K | 15.8% | 7.5% | 5% | C− |
| 2,015 | Gruver TX | 1,064 | $73K | 11.5% | 0.7% | 21% | C− |
| 2,016 | Strum WI | 1,075 | $69K | 17.4% | 0.6% | 6% | C− |
| 2,017 | Moscow Township MI | 1,380 | $59K | 12.3% | 3.0% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Gruver, 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 Gruver: questions
What is the median household income in Gruver?
$72,857 (±$19,998) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gruver?
11.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gruver?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gruver work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spearman (9%, 13 mi), Amarillo (6%, 77 mi), Guymon (6%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gruver walkable?
Gruver is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gruver without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gruver, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gruver
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.