Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Kaufman have lower incomes than those in 69% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 10.6% of residents (Texas 13.8%). For jobs and income Kaufman is better than 58% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+). 6% of workers have no commute at all; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Kaufman
Kaufman trades workers with the towns around it
Kaufman has about as many jobs (4,033) as working residents (3,405), but they are mostly different people: 2,926 residents leave for work each day while 3,554 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Kaufman are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Kaufman’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Kaufman is Dallas, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 17% of working residents (580) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Kaufman
Job access by car holds Kaufman’s grade up (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($62,931, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kaufman could be anywhere from C to A.
Who leaves Kaufman for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,926 residents head out to work, 479 work right here, and 3,554 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 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.
Kaufman’s commute, mile by mile
About 20% 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.
17% of working residents work in Dallas
Where Kaufman clocks in
5% 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.
Inside Kaufman’s 4,033 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kaufman, 2013 → 2023: 3,255 → 4,033. 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 Kaufman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Kaufman: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kaufman workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,845 commuters (the 6% 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.
Few in Kaufman walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 4,098 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 55% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 47% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.1% of Kaufman households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kaufman’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 14,000, Kaufman ranks 1,212th of 2,280 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Lucas TX | 8,896 | $221K | 1.3% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Lantana TX | 12,766 | $199K | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,210 | Malibu CA | 9,574 | $194K | 12.6% | 6.7% | 9% | B |
| 1,211 | Franklin NH | 8,839 | $72K | 7.0% | 2.8% | 13% | B |
| 1,212 | Kaufman TX | 10,717 | $63K | 10.6% | 3.4% | 14% | B |
| 1,213 | Hartsville/Trousdale County TN | 12,623 | $73K | 11.9% | 0.6% | 14% | B |
| 1,214 | Santa Fe TX | 13,913 | $99K | 10.4% | 8.5% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,280 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Kaufman, 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 Kaufman: questions
What is the median household income in Kaufman?
$62,931 (±$19,615) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kaufman?
10.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kaufman?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kaufman work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (17%, 30 mi), Terrell (5%, 10 mi), Plano (3%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kaufman walkable?
Kaufman is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kaufman without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 47% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kaufman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kaufman
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.