Photo: Rick Ray · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in McKinney are higher than in 90% of U.S. towns
24% of workers have no commute at all; Texas has 14%. 5.7% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. The two grades for McKinney are A for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in McKinney, in a few figures
McKinney has added jobs fast
Jobs based in McKinney went from 35,829 in 2013 to 64,977 in 2023, +81%. The jobs ↓
McKinney’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside McKinney is Dallas, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (16,608) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Home offices are common in McKinney
25% of McKinney workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Time on the road ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind McKinney’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, McKinney is better than 92% of U.S. towns, #70 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 95% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, McKinney could be anywhere from A to A+.
What McKinney’s employers do
64,977 jobs are based in McKinney.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in McKinney, 2013 → 2023: 35,829 → 64,977. 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 McKinney’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from McKinney
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.
About 28 minutes to work from McKinney
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of McKinney workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 82,796 commuters (the 24% 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.
The daily commute in and out of McKinney
On a workday 89,038 residents head out to work, 13,732 work right here, and 51,245 people come in from elsewhere.
About 198,000 people are in McKinney on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.63 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.
16% of working residents work in Dallas
Where McKinney clocks in
Lines 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.
Few in McKinney walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, McKinney is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #167 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 109,598 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.4% of McKinney households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of McKinney’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
McKinney is 6th of 109 U.S. towns of 165,000 to 319,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 4 | Huntington NY | 205,891 | $168K | 5.0% | 4.3% | 23% | A |
| 5 | Arlington VA | 236,254 | $142K | 7.4% | 3.3% | 20% | A |
| 6 | McKinney TX | 236,001 | $124K | 5.7% | 3.7% | 13% | A |
| 7 | Cary NC | 183,582 | $135K | 5.7% | 3.5% | 19% | A |
| 8 | Gilbert AZ | 287,285 | $123K | 5.3% | 3.5% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Plano TX | 293,028 | $112K | 6.8% | 4.0% | 23% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Irving TX | 257,076 | $82K | 11.0% | 4.5% | 21% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | Shreveport LA | 175,902 | $49K | 23.5% | 9.0% | 61% | C− |
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 McKinney, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
McKinney and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Frisco (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | McKinney workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKinney | – | A | B | 28 min | $124,215 |
| Fairview | under 2% | B+ | C− | 34 min | $109,347 |
| Melissa | under 2% | A+ | C | 34 min | $138,763 |
| Lowry Crossing | under 2% | A | C− | 31 min | $116,875 |
| Frisco | 6% | A | B | 29 min | $150,212 |
| Prosper | under 2% | A | C | 30 min | $195,281 |
| Allen | 3% | A | B | 28 min | $130,901 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of McKinney’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 McKinney: questions
What is the median household income in McKinney?
$124,215 (±$4,744) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in McKinney?
5.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from McKinney?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in McKinney work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (16%, 29 mi), Plano (14%, 12 mi), Frisco (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is McKinney walkable?
McKinney is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around McKinney without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from McKinney, from the people who make the trip.
More of McKinney
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.