Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Los Altos’
The two grades for Los Altos are D for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Measured by household income, Los Altos is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 91.1% of residents (Texas 13.8%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How Los Altos earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Los Altos is better than 8% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Los Altos’ grade up (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (12.1%) is left out: Los Altos’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Los Altos stays D.
The daily flow of workers through Los Altos
On a workday 57 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 0 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.00 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.
70% of working residents work in Laredo
Where Los Altos clocks in
70% of workers
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.
Working from home in Los Altos
of Los Altos workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 254 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.
Miles to work from Los Altos
About 26% 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.
For most of Los Altos, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Los Altos is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Los Altos near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 254 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). 0.0% of Los Altos households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Los Altos’ commuters take a bus or train.
Los Altos next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500: 3,212th of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Serenada TX | 1,444 | $155K | 1.5% | 2.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,210 | Elizabethtown NY | 1,180 | $57K | 16.2% | 5.5% | 24% | D |
| 3,211 | Copeland OK | 1,401 | $58K | 16.1% | 4.5% | 3% | D |
| 3,212 | Los Altos TX | 1,082 | $22K | 91.1% | 12.1% | 0% | D |
| 3,213 | Pierce City MO | 1,275 | $51K | 31.8% | 5.2% | 4% | D |
| 3,214 | Burwell NE | 1,018 | $51K | 13.0% | 2.6% | 37% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Los Altos, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Los Altos and its neighbors: 70% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Los Altos workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Altos | – | D | D− | — | $22,177 |
| Tanquecitos South Acres | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Tanquecitos South Acres II | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Laredo | 70% | C | B | 22 min | $63,915 |
Same-state neighbors only. Tanquecitos South Acres and Tanquecitos South Acres II: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Laredo. Darker towns draw more of Los Altos’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 Los Altos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Altos?
$22,177 (±$3,256) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Altos?
91.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Los Altos work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Laredo (70%, 8 mi), Austin (4%, 218 mi), McAllen (4%, 112 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Altos walkable?
Los Altos is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Altos without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Altos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Altos
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.