Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Lamesa are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Lamesa D−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Poverty touches 22.7% of residents, against 13.8% across Texas. 4% of workers work from home; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lamesa apart
Lamesa’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lamesa is Midland, 50 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (328) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Most jobs in Lamesa go to people who live here
Of the 2,421 jobs based in Lamesa, 48% are held by Lamesa residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
44% 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 ↓
Few Lamesa workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Lamesa’s grade explained
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Lamesa’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lamesa could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How far Lamesa’s workers travel
About 44% 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.
Lamesa by day and by night
On a workday 2,273 residents head out to work, 1,163 work right here, and 1,258 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Lamesa on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.70 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 2023, primary jobs.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Lamesa
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lamesa workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,517 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.
10% of working residents work in Midland
Where Lamesa clocks in
10% 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.
What the 2,421 jobs in Lamesa are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lamesa, 2013 → 2023: 2,444 → 2,421. 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 Lamesa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Lamesa: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lamesa is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #328 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 3,653 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). 5.8% of Lamesa households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lamesa’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 5,700 to 10,900, and where Lamesa sits
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Alamo Heights TX | 7,632 | $183K | 2.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Oak Point TX | 6,909 | $126K | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,914 | Kinross Township MI | 6,790 | $61K | 21.3% | 11.4% | 15% | D− |
| 2,915 | Berryville AR | 5,813 | $42K | 22.8% | 8.5% | 38% | D− |
| 2,916 | Lamesa TX | 8,103 | $49K | 22.7% | 7.3% | 34% | D− |
| 2,917 | Seminole OK | 7,393 | $39K | 27.9% | 7.4% | 28% | D− |
| 2,918 | Tuba City AZ | 7,960 | $61K | 28.0% | 7.5% | 14% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,966 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Lamesa, 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 Lamesa: questions
What is the median household income in Lamesa?
$49,007 (±$10,244) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lamesa?
22.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lamesa?
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 Lamesa work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Midland (10%, 50 mi), Odessa (3%, 63 mi), Lubbock (3%, 57 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lamesa walkable?
Lamesa is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lamesa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lamesa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lamesa
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.