Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainKermit has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs and income earn Kermit C; getting around on foot earns it B. There are 1,475 jobs in Kermit, and 2,669 of its residents work somewhere. Working from home is the commute for <1% of workers (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Kermit at work: what stands out
Kermit’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Kermit is Midland, 59 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (223) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Kermit workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 ↓
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.
How Kermit earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kermit is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #433 of 642 in Texas. Household income holds Kermit’s grade up ($81,170, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kermit could be anywhere from D to B.
Short hops and long hauls from Kermit
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.
About 31 minutes to work from Kermit
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kermit workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,715 commuters (the <1% 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.
A workday in Kermit: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,043 residents head out to work, 626 work right here, and 849 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,800 people are in Kermit on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
8% of working residents work in Midland
Where Kermit clocks in
8% of workers
7% of workers
3% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 30% of the jobs in Kermit
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kermit, 2013 → 2023: 1,625 → 1,475. 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 Kermit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Kermit gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kermit is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #210 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 2,727 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). 3.3% of Kermit households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kermit’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,537th of 3,394: where Kermit ranks among U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,535 | Prairie du Chien WI | 5,408 | $54K | 17.4% | 2.1% | 42% | C |
| 2,536 | Boonville NY | 4,411 | $68K | 11.8% | 4.6% | 20% | C |
| 2,537 | Kermit TX | 6,019 | $81K | 16.9% | 3.9% | 23% | C |
| 2,538 | Olio Township IL | 4,627 | $56K | 11.6% | 6.7% | 16% | C |
| 2,539 | Moab UT | 5,206 | $62K | 15.9% | 2.9% | 60% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,394 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Kermit, 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 Kermit: questions
What is the median household income in Kermit?
$81,170 (±$21,635) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kermit?
16.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kermit?
31 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kermit work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Midland (8%, 59 mi), Odessa (7%, 44 mi), Monahans (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kermit walkable?
Kermit is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kermit without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kermit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kermit
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.