Photo: pasa47 · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Longview are lower than in 68% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Longview are B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Poverty touches 17.3% of residents, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. About two in five stay in Longview for work; outside it, Kilgore is the main destination (4%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Longview: the figures worth knowing
Longview is where the jobs are
Longview has 51,395 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Longview are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Longview draws workers from far and wide
The 51,395 jobs in Longview are filled from a wide area. Longview’s own residents hold 30% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 57% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
Inside Longview’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Longview is better than 47% of U.S. towns, #314 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Longview’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Longview could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Who commutes out of Longview, and who commutes in
On a workday 18,680 residents head out to work, 15,253 work right here, and 36,142 people come in from elsewhere.
About 101,000 people are in Longview on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 21 minutes to work from Longview
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Longview workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 35,345 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where the people who work in Longview live
Where Longview clocks in
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Longview
51,395 jobs are based in Longview.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Longview, 2013 → 2023: 52,496 → 51,395. 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 Longview’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Longview goes to work
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.
Few in Longview walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Longview is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #198 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 38,008 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). 5.6% of Longview households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Longview’s commuters take a bus or train.
Longview places 394th of 555 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 58,000 to 112,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Flower Mound TX | 79,540 | $161K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 12 | Celina TX | 64,427 | $171K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 392 | Pike Township IN | 84,515 | $69K | 14.2% | 5.7% | 17% | B− |
| 393 | Mount Vernon NY | 72,304 | $79K | 14.7% | 9.3% | 9% | B− |
| 394 | Longview TX | 83,236 | $63K | 17.3% | 3.1% | 45% | B− |
| 395 | Lodi CA | 69,100 | $89K | 12.4% | 8.9% | 22% | B− |
| 396 | Jeffersonville Township IN | 65,369 | $62K | 14.4% | 4.9% | 21% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 555 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Longview, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Longview and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to White Oak (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Longview’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 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 Longview: questions
What is the median household income in Longview?
$63,340 (±$3,530) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Longview?
17.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Longview?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Longview work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kilgore (4%, 10 mi), Tyler (4%, 35 mi), Dallas (3%, 118 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Longview walkable?
Longview is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Longview without a car?
<1% 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 Longview, from the people who make the trip.
More of Longview
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.