Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Jefferson have lower incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 21.6% of residents, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. For jobs and income Jefferson is better than 7% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (B). 4% of workers have no commute at all, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jefferson at work: what stands out
Jefferson’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Jefferson is Longview, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (102) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Jefferson workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Jefferson’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% 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; with 837 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Jefferson’s grade explained
Job access by car holds Jefferson’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,500, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (8.4%) is left out: Jefferson’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, Jefferson could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Jefferson
About 41% 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.
The 1,189 jobs based in Jefferson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jefferson, 2013 → 2023: 1,259 → 1,189. 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 Jefferson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Jefferson, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 697 residents head out to work, 140 work right here, and 1,049 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Jefferson on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 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.
12% of working residents work in Longview
Where Jefferson clocks in
12% 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.
The daily trip from Jefferson: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jefferson workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 875 commuters (the 4% 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 Jefferson gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 908 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). 9.3% of Jefferson households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jefferson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jefferson next to U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800: 5,154th of 5,793 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,152 | Bladenboro NC | 1,656 | $52K | 27.3% | 3.6% | 6% | D |
| 5,153 | Westminster SC | 2,504 | $41K | 21.3% | 3.9% | 3% | D |
| 5,154 | Jefferson TX | 2,056 | $42K | 21.6% | 8.4% | 17% | D |
| 5,155 | Whiskey Run Township IN | 1,963 | $59K | 22.2% | 3.7% | 5% | D |
| 5,156 | Hartland ME | 1,890 | $46K | 16.0% | 3.9% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | 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 Jefferson, 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 Jefferson: questions
What is the median household income in Jefferson?
$41,500 (±$17,383) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jefferson?
21.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jefferson?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jefferson work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Longview (12%, 29 mi), Marshall (7%, 16 mi), Tyler (4%, 64 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jefferson walkable?
Jefferson is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jefferson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jefferson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jefferson
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.