Photo: Liveon001 ©Travis K. Witt · CC BY-SA 3.0Johnson City has 1.7 jobs for every working resident: 1,060 people commute in to work
Jobs & income D: better than 7% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access.
Walkability A: more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 24 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). About one in five work in Johnson City; the top destination outside it is Austin (18%, 39 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Johnson City
Johnson City’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Johnson City is Austin, 39 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (122) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Johnson City is where the jobs are
Johnson City has 1,205 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Johnson City has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Johnson City went from 743 in 2013 to 1,205 in 2023, +62%. 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 697 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Johnson City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Johnson City is better than 7% of U.S. towns. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Johnson City’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Johnson City could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Half of Johnson City commutes less than 38 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 27% 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.
Johnson City fills up on a workday
On a workday 552 residents head out to work, 145 work right here, and 1,060 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Johnson City on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
What the 1,205 jobs in Johnson City are
1,205 jobs are based in Johnson City. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Johnson City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Johnson City, 2013 → 2023: 743 → 1,205. 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.
Where Johnson City’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Johnson City clocks in
18% of workers
3% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Johnson City workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 902 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.
Johnson City is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Johnson City is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Johnson City 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 941 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). 5.4% of Johnson City households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Johnson City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Johnson City is 4,814th of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Johnson City, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| 24 | Shoreacres TX | 1,535 | $131K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,812 | Warner OK | 1,587 | $55K | 19.8% | 5.8% | 10% | D |
| 4,813 | Varnville SC | 1,626 | $56K | 14.4% | 14.5% | 8% | D |
| 4,814 | Johnson City TX | 2,127 | $49K | 15.7% | 8.3% | 21% | D |
| 4,815 | Hillsville VA | 2,836 | $58K | 22.4% | 9.9% | 19% | D |
| 4,816 | Avena Township IL | 1,875 | $51K | 20.0% | 5.6% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | 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.
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 Johnson City: questions
What is the median household income in Johnson City?
$48,622 (±$10,417) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Johnson City?
15.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Johnson City?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Johnson City work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (18%, 39 mi), San Antonio (3%, 56 mi), Fredericksburg (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Johnson City walkable?
Johnson City is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Johnson City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Johnson City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Johnson City
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.