Photo: Leaflet · CC BY-SA 4.0Lockney has lower household incomes than 82% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 17.7% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. The two grades for Lockney are D for jobs and income and D for walkability. 0% of workers work from home, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lockney and work: the main findings
Lockney and Plainview trade workers both ways
Plainview is the top workplace for Lockney residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Lockney come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Lockney are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% 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; with 580 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Lockney
On income, poverty and job access, Lockney is better than 8% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Lockney’s grade.
Unemployment (8.6%) is left out: Lockney’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, Lockney could be anywhere from D− to C+.
15% of working residents work in Plainview
Where Lockney clocks in
15% 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.
About 14 minutes to work from Lockney
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lockney workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 713 commuters (the 0% 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.
Lockney’s commute, mile by mile
About 38% 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.
Who leaves Lockney for work, and who comes in
On a workday 473 residents head out to work, 107 work right here, and 273 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Lockney on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
380 jobs are based in Lockney.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lockney, 2013 → 2023: 641 → 380. 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 Lockney’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Lockney is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lockney is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 713 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). 2.1% of Lockney households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lockney’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Lockney is 4,647th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 30 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,645 | Bayboro NC | 1,242 | $34K | 12.2% | 1.4% | 7% | D |
| 4,646 | Russells Point OH | 1,323 | $42K | 26.2% | 5.3% | 6% | D |
| 4,647 | Lockney TX | 1,340 | $55K | 17.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D |
| 4,648 | Penn Township IN | 1,113 | $39K | 17.3% | 2.2% | 1% | D |
| 4,649 | Circle City AZ | 1,089 | $42K | 14.3% | 4.8% | 0% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Lockney, 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 Lockney: questions
What is the median household income in Lockney?
$54,698 (±$15,480) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lockney?
17.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lockney?
14 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lockney work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Plainview (15%, 17 mi), Lubbock (14%, 46 mi), Amarillo (4%, 78 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lockney walkable?
Lockney is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lockney without a car?
0% 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 Lockney, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lockney
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.