Lubbock draws more than half of Idalou’s working residents
About one in ten stay in Idalou for work; outside it, Lubbock is the main destination (57%, 14 miles). Jobs and income earn Idalou C; getting around on foot earns it C−. Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Idalou apart
More than half of Idalou works in Lubbock
596 working residents, 57%, have their main job in Lubbock, 14 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Idalou itself. The commute map ↓
Idalou has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Idalou went from 337 in 2013 to 503 in 2023, +49%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside Idalou’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Idalou is better than 32% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Idalou’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($58,500, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.9%) is left out: Idalou’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, Idalou could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Where people from Idalou work
Where Idalou clocks in
1% of workers
1% 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 Idalou
503 jobs are based in Idalou.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Idalou, 2013 → 2023: 337 → 503. 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 Idalou’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Idalou by day
On a workday 918 residents head out to work, 124 work right here, and 379 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Idalou on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.48 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 2023, primary jobs.
About 28 minutes each way, about the TX average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Idalou workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 761 commuters (the 9% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Idalou
About 18% 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 Idalou walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Idalou is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 839 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). 8.2% of Idalou households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Idalou’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Idalou is 3,110th of 5,148 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| 23 | Shoreacres TX | 1,535 | $131K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,108 | Berlin PA | 1,956 | $57K | 7.2% | 8.0% | 11% | C |
| 3,109 | Bells TN | 2,473 | $56K | 25.7% | 2.7% | 15% | C |
| 3,110 | Idalou TX | 2,105 | $59K | 15.9% | 2.9% | 12% | C |
| 3,111 | Pine Township MI | 1,948 | $83K | 11.2% | 9.2% | 1% | C |
| 3,112 | Bonners Ferry ID | 2,797 | $53K | 13.4% | 0.7% | 30% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Idalou, 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 Idalou: questions
What is the median household income in Idalou?
$58,500 (±$25,112) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Idalou?
15.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Idalou?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Idalou work?
12% work in town.
Is Idalou walkable?
Idalou is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Idalou without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Idalou, from the people who make the trip.
More of Idalou
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.