Photo: Leaflet · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Knox City trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Knox City for work; outside it, Abilene is the main destination (8%, 67 miles). 17.5% of residents live below the poverty line; Texas has 13.8%. Knox City grades D− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Knox City
A big share show a job far from home
58% 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 ↓
Knox City’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Knox City is Abilene, 67 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (34) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Knox City are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 417 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Knox City’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Knox City is better than 2% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Knox City’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: Knox City’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, Knox City could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Knox City
About 58% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Each way, about 15 minutes from Knox City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Knox City workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 354 commuters (the 12% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Knox City
On a workday 353 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 217 people come in from elsewhere.
About 870 people are in Knox City on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.67 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 2024, primary jobs.
The places Knox City commutes to
Where Knox City clocks in
8% of workers
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.
What Knox City’s employers do
281 jobs are based in Knox City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Knox City, 2014 → 2024: 466 → 281. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Knox City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Knox City is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Knox City is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 5.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 402 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). 9.2% of Knox City households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Knox City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Knox City compares with U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Weston TX | 1,140 | $144K | 2.8% | 0.7% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Randolph AFB TX | 1,240 | $113K | 2.8% | 3.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,972 | Whitehall MT | 1,131 | $45K | 20.6% | 8.9% | 17% | D− |
| 2,973 | Kenton TN | 1,248 | $42K | 24.3% | 3.7% | 2% | D− |
| 2,974 | Knox City TX | 1,009 | $42K | 17.5% | 1.7% | 15% | D− |
| 2,975 | Appalachia VA | 1,369 | $43K | 28.3% | 13.1% | 4% | D− |
| 2,976 | Naco AZ | 1,060 | $58K | 33.0% | 8.1% | <1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Knox City, 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 2024, 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 Knox City: questions
What is the median household income in Knox City?
$42,344 (±$18,830) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Knox City?
17.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Knox City?
15 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Knox City work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Abilene (8%, 67 mi), Munday (6%, 11 mi), Wichita Falls (5%, 82 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Knox City walkable?
Knox City is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Knox City 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 Knox City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Knox City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.