Photo: Renegomezphotography · CC BY-SA 4.0Marlin has lower household incomes than 98% of U.S. towns
Marlin grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Poverty touches 26.7% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. About one in seven work in Marlin itself; outside it, Waco draws the most (16%, 25 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Marlin: the figures worth knowing
A big share show a job far from home
51% 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 ↓
Marlin’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Marlin is Waco, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (345) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Marlin
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marlin is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #626 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Marlin’s grade up (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (14.2%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marlin could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How far it is to work from Marlin
About 51% 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.
A workday in Marlin: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,823 residents head out to work, 276 work right here, and 840 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,600 people are in Marlin on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.53 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.
Commuting out of Marlin: the destinations
Where Marlin clocks in
3% 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.
What the 1,116 jobs in Marlin are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marlin, 2013 → 2023: 1,263 → 1,116. 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 Marlin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Marlin, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marlin workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,627 commuters (the 13% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Marlin
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marlin is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #45 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Marlin 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 1,878 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). 9.4% of Marlin households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marlin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Marlin next to U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,467 | Tri-City OR | 4,234 | $55K | 27.5% | 8.8% | 6% | D− |
| 3,468 | Waverly TN | 4,430 | $44K | 16.2% | 14.1% | 18% | D− |
| 3,469 | Marlin TX | 5,599 | $36K | 26.7% | 14.2% | 13% | D− |
| 3,470 | Cotton Hill Township MO | 4,700 | $47K | 25.0% | 7.8% | 20% | D− |
| 3,471 | Greenville AL | 6,912 | $41K | 31.6% | 6.6% | 37% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,561 | 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 Marlin, 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 Marlin: questions
What is the median household income in Marlin?
$36,426 (±$11,886) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marlin?
26.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marlin?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marlin work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waco (16%, 25 mi), Dallas (6%, 103 mi), Austin (3%, 86 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marlin walkable?
Marlin is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marlin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marlin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marlin
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.