Photo: Lakeviews · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Little Elm works elsewhere
Household incomes here are higher than in 88% of U.S. towns. Employers in Little Elm report 6,138 jobs for 26,376 working residents. Little Elm grades B+ for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Little Elm, in brief
Jobs in Little Elm have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Little Elm went from 2,982 in 2014 to 6,138 in 2024, +106%. The jobs ↓
Home offices are common in Little Elm
27% of Little Elm workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Time on the road ↓
Little Elm workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Little Elm’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Little Elm is Dallas, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (3,867) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Little Elm is a place people come home to
There are 6,138 jobs based in Little Elm, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Little Elm has about 42,000 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Little Elm’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Little Elm is better than 72% of U.S. towns, #186 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Little Elm’s grade up (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Little Elm could be anywhere from B to A.
What Little Elm’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Little Elm, 2014 → 2024: 2,982 → 6,138. 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 Little Elm’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 35 minutes each way for Little Elm’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Little Elm workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 20,223 commuters (the 27% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Little Elm
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.
How a workday changes Little Elm
On a workday 25,498 residents head out to work, 878 work right here, and 5,260 people come in from elsewhere.
About 42,000 people are in Little Elm on a workday afternoon, 32% 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 2024, primary jobs.
15% of working residents work in Dallas
Where Little Elm clocks in
Lines 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.
For most of Little Elm, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Little Elm is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns, #461 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 27,767 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% 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). 2.3% of Little Elm households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Little Elm’s commuters take a bus or train.
Little Elm places 311th of 709 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 44,000 to 85,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Flower Mound TX | 79,540 | $161K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 309 | French Valley CA | 45,269 | $149K | 4.9% | 6.5% | 4% | B+ |
| 310 | Ames IA | 68,220 | $61K | 25.5% | 5.8% | 50% | B+ |
| 311 | Little Elm TX | 62,727 | $119K | 9.0% | 6.6% | 3% | B+ |
| 312 | Waldorf MD | 82,943 | $116K | 7.7% | 5.9% | 11% | B+ |
| 313 | Chino Hills CA | 77,519 | $126K | 7.6% | 6.9% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 709 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 27% | 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 Little Elm, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Bordering towns draw 11% of Little Elm’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Little Elm workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Elm | – | B+ | C | 35 min | $119,219 |
| The Colony | under 3% | A | B | 27 min | $114,511 |
| Providence Village | under 3% | A | C− | 43 min | $110,430 |
| Frisco | 11% | A | B | 29 min | $150,212 |
| Savannah | under 3% | A− | C | 40 min | $142,868 |
| Oak Point | under 3% | A+ | D | 33 min | $126,290 |
| Aubrey | under 3% | A | C− | 34 min | $101,574 |
| Lakewood Village | under 3% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Prosper | under 3% | A | C | 30 min | $195,281 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lakewood Village: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Frisco. Darker towns draw more of Little Elm’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Little Elm: questions
What is the median household income in Little Elm?
$119,219 (±$8,047) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Little Elm?
9.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Little Elm?
35 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Little Elm work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (15%, 29 mi), Plano (12%, 14 mi), Frisco (11%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Little Elm walkable?
Little Elm is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Little Elm without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Little Elm, from the people who make the trip.
More of Little Elm
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.