Photo: Mathieu Lebreton from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0Households in Marfa have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
26.9% of residents live below the poverty line (Texas 13.8%). Jobs and income earn Marfa C−; getting around on foot earns it A. About half work in Marfa; the top destination outside it is Alpine (6%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Marfa stands out on work
Commutes from Marfa are quick
The average trip to work takes 6 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 161 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Jobs in Marfa have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Marfa went from 458 in 2013 to 941 in 2023, +105%. The jobs ↓
Marfa is where the jobs are
Marfa has 941 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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 576 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Marfa: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marfa is better than 20% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Marfa’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marfa could be anywhere from D to C.
About 6 minutes each way for Marfa’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 1.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marfa workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,143 commuters (the 14% 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.
Goods jobs make up 28% of work in Marfa
941 jobs are based in Marfa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marfa, 2013 → 2023: 458 → 941. 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 Marfa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Marfa fills up on a workday
On a workday 315 residents head out to work, 261 work right here, and 680 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Marfa on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Where Marfa’s workforce comes from
Where Marfa clocks in
6% 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.
Miles to work from Marfa
About 43% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Marfa
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marfa is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 32.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 9.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,326 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). 8.2% of Marfa households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marfa’s commuters take a bus or train.
Marfa is 4,073rd of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 28 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,071 | Arkoma OK | 1,863 | $44K | 22.1% | 7.8% | 5% | C− |
| 4,072 | Freeport PA | 1,672 | $49K | 27.3% | 5.6% | 6% | C− |
| 4,073 | Marfa TX | 1,574 | $44K | 26.9% | 0.0% | 45% | C− |
| 4,074 | Duchesne UT | 1,722 | $77K | 14.5% | 4.1% | 22% | C− |
| 4,075 | Johnston Township OH | 1,718 | $61K | 28.4% | 4.1% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Marfa, 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 Marfa: questions
What is the median household income in Marfa?
$44,306 (±$13,130) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marfa?
26.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marfa?
6 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marfa work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alpine (6%, 22 mi), El Paso (4%, 178 mi), Lubbock (4%, 257 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marfa walkable?
Marfa is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 33% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marfa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marfa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marfa
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.