Jobs, income and commuting in Harker Heights, TX
8% of workers have no commute at all, next to 14% for Texas as a whole. The two grades for Harker Heights are B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 58% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Harker Heights in brief
Harker Heights and Killeen trade workers both ways
Killeen is the top workplace for Harker Heights residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Harker Heights come from (28% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Harker Heights’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Harker Heights is better than 59% of U.S. towns, #259 of 642 in Texas. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Harker Heights’ grade. It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Harker Heights could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
17% of working residents work in Killeen
Where Harker Heights clocks in
17% of workers
10% 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.
How many miles Harker Heights commutes
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Harker Heights by day and by night
On a workday 10,301 residents head out to work, 872 work right here, and 5,983 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Harker Heights on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
What work there is in Harker Heights: 6,855 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harker Heights, 2014 → 2024: 5,575 → 6,855. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Harker Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Harker Heights spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harker Heights workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,605 commuters (the 8% 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.
Driving is how Harker Heights gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harker Heights is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns, #404 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 16,984 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). 7.2% of Harker Heights households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Harker Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
Harker Heights places 741st of 1,219 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Colleyville TX | 25,727 | $218K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Corinth TX | 25,297 | $121K | 3.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 739 | Antioch Township IL | 27,763 | $102K | 8.9% | 8.0% | 10% | B |
| 740 | South Laurel MD | 29,272 | $89K | 11.8% | 6.7% | 2% | B |
| 741 | Harker Heights TX | 35,195 | $81K | 10.2% | 3.9% | 8% | B |
| 742 | DeLand FL | 46,346 | $72K | 11.0% | 3.5% | 21% | B |
| 743 | Lynnwood WA | 42,132 | $78K | 14.2% | 4.3% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Harker Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Harker Heights and its neighbors: 17% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Harker Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harker Heights | – | B | C+ | 24 min | $81,190 |
| Killeen | 17% | C− | C+ | 26 min | $60,977 |
| Nolanville | under 3% | B− | D | 24 min | $72,480 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Killeen. Darker towns draw more of Harker Heights’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Harker Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Harker Heights?
$81,190 (±$10,865) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harker Heights?
10.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harker Heights?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harker Heights work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Killeen (17%, 5 mi), Temple (11%, 16 mi), Austin (10%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Harker Heights walkable?
Harker Heights is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harker Heights without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harker Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harker Heights
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.