Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Happy works elsewhere
Happy has 21 jobs for 169 working residents. Hardly any stay in Happy for work; outside it, Amarillo is the main destination (24%, 32 miles). For 24% of workers, the job is at home, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The daily commute in and out of Happy
On a workday 169 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 21 people come in from elsewhere.
About 440 people are in Happy on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
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 Happy commutes to
Where Happy clocks in
24% of workers
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.
The kinds of work in Happy
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Happy, 2013 → 2023: 82 → 21. 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 Happy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Happy spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Happy workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 168 commuters (the 24% 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.
How far Happy’s workers travel
About 24% 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.
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 Happy: questions
What is the median household income in Happy?
$55,313 (±$43,816) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Happy?
29.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Happy?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Happy work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amarillo (24%, 32 mi), Tulia (20%, 15 mi), Canyon (8%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Happy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Happy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Happy
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.