Photo: Theunderratedtaco · CC BY 4.0Harlingen’s household incomes are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 25.1% of residents, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. Harlingen grades C for jobs and income and B for walkability. About two in five stay in Harlingen for work; outside it, Brownsville is the main destination (9%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Harlingen stands out on work
Commutes from Harlingen are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Harlingen workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Harlingen’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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.
The figures behind Harlingen’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Harlingen is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #454 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Harlingen’s grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Harlingen could be anywhere from C− to C+.
From Harlingen, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harlingen workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,963 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.
The 38,405 jobs based in Harlingen
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harlingen, 2013 → 2023: 35,986 → 38,405. 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 Harlingen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Harlingen: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 15,061 residents head out to work, 10,682 work right here, and 27,723 people come in from elsewhere.
About 85,000 people are in Harlingen on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.49 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.
Out of Harlingen to work: where people go
Where Harlingen clocks in
9% 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.
How many miles Harlingen commutes
About 21% 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.
Few in Harlingen walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harlingen is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #230 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Harlingen near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 28,973 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). 6.4% of Harlingen households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Harlingen’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 51,000 to 98,000, and where Harlingen sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Flower Mound TX | 79,540 | $161K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 13 | Celina TX | 64,427 | $171K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 544 | Mission TX | 88,992 | $61K | 19.4% | 7.8% | 21% | C |
| 545 | Pine Hills FL | 80,105 | $59K | 17.5% | 11.6% | 2% | C |
| 546 | Harlingen TX | 72,467 | $54K | 25.1% | 5.2% | 41% | C |
| 547 | Lauderhill FL | 75,668 | $51K | 19.4% | 8.5% | 3% | C |
| 548 | Tulare CA | 73,907 | $72K | 17.9% | 8.6% | 23% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 599 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Harlingen, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
The towns around Harlingen
The biggest share goes to San Benito (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Harlingen workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harlingen | – | C | B | 18 min | $53,645 |
| San Benito | 5% | C− | B− | 18 min | $43,639 |
| Juarez | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Las Palmas II | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Combes | under 2% | C+ | B− | 17 min | $45,504 |
| Palm Valley | under 2% | A− | C+ | 28 min | $99,438 |
| Primera | under 2% | B | C− | 20 min | $80,116 |
| Lasana | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Juarez, Las Palmas II and Lasana: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Harlingen’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 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 Harlingen: questions
What is the median household income in Harlingen?
$53,645 (±$5,116) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harlingen?
25.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harlingen?
18 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harlingen work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brownsville (9%, 19 mi), San Benito (5%, 5 mi), McAllen (4%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harlingen walkable?
Harlingen is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harlingen without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harlingen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harlingen
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.