Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Littlefield has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Littlefield report 1,165 jobs; 2,595 of its residents have a job. Littlefield grades C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Home is the office for 6% of workers (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Littlefield apart on work
Commutes from Littlefield are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
28% of Littlefield works in Lubbock
714 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Lubbock, 36 miles away. That’s more than work in Littlefield itself. The commute map ↓
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.
The figures behind Littlefield’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Littlefield is better than 35% of U.S. towns, #384 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Littlefield’s grade up (2.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($60,636, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Littlefield could be anywhere from C− to B.
Time on the road from Littlefield: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Littlefield workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,617 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.
28% of working residents work in Lubbock
Where Littlefield clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
How a workday changes Littlefield
On a workday 2,127 residents head out to work, 468 work right here, and 697 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Littlefield on a workday afternoon, 25% 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.
The kinds of work in Littlefield
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Littlefield, 2013 → 2023: 1,432 → 1,165. 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 Littlefield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Littlefield commutes less than 34 miles
About 28% 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.
Driving is how Littlefield gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Littlefield is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #333 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 2,775 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). 1.6% of Littlefield households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Littlefield’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Littlefield ranks: 2,388th of 3,476 U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,386 | Spotsylvania Courthouse VA | 7,180 | $95K | 12.6% | 10.7% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,387 | Creve Coeur IL | 4,816 | $48K | 17.7% | 4.0% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,388 | Littlefield TX | 5,675 | $61K | 14.7% | 2.7% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,389 | Ridgeway NY | 6,429 | $70K | 10.4% | 5.3% | 17% | C+ |
| 2,390 | Chester Township PA | 4,068 | $58K | 16.3% | 6.8% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Littlefield, 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 Littlefield: questions
What is the median household income in Littlefield?
$60,636 (±$8,147) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Littlefield?
14.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Littlefield?
16 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Littlefield work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lubbock (28%, 36 mi), Levelland (5%, 23 mi), Amarillo (4%, 93 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Littlefield walkable?
Littlefield is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Littlefield without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Littlefield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Littlefield
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.