Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Itasca has lower unemployment (1.1%) than 94% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 3% of workers, next to 14% for Texas as a whole. Jobs and income earn Itasca B+; getting around on foot earns it B. Only 4% work in Itasca; the top destination outside it is Fort Worth (8%, 45 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Itasca
Itasca’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Itasca is Fort Worth, 45 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (52) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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 ↓
Few Itasca workers work from home
Only 3% 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 677 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Itasca
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Itasca is better than 73% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Itasca’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Itasca could be anywhere from B to A.
Itasca’s commute, mile by mile
About 33% 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.
Time on the road from Itasca: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Itasca workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,008 commuters (the 3% 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.
Itasca by day and by night
On a workday 650 residents head out to work, 27 work right here, and 301 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Itasca on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
The places Itasca commutes to
Where Itasca clocks in
8% 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.
The 328 jobs based in Itasca
328 jobs are based in Itasca.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Itasca, 2013 → 2023: 349 → 328. 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 Itasca’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Itasca is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Itasca is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,043 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). 0.9% of Itasca households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Itasca’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Itasca is 1,020th among 5,509 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 22 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| 23 | Serenada TX | 1,444 | $155K | 1.5% | 2.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,018 | Trenton WI | 1,944 | $110K | 4.2% | 2.5% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,019 | West Fork AR | 2,373 | $78K | 3.1% | 3.5% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,020 | Itasca TX | 1,970 | $77K | 6.8% | 1.1% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,021 | Splendora TX | 2,146 | $85K | 13.5% | 1.9% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,022 | Fredonia WI | 2,252 | $99K | 9.7% | 3.5% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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 Itasca, 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 Itasca: questions
What is the median household income in Itasca?
$77,227 (±$10,610) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Itasca?
6.8%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Itasca?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Itasca work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Worth (8%, 45 mi), Hillsboro (6%, 11 mi), Dallas (6%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Itasca walkable?
Itasca is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Itasca without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Itasca, from the people who make the trip.
More of Itasca
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.