Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Menard has lower household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
Menard grades D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. 26.7% of residents are in poverty (Texas 13.8%). Working from home is the commute for 1% of workers; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Menard: the figures worth knowing
A big share show a job far from home
60% 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 ↓
Menard’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Menard is San Angelo, 54 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (30) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Menard are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. 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; with 382 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Menard’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Menard is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Menard’s grade.
Unemployment (9.2%) is left out: Menard’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Menard could be anywhere from D− to D.
How far it is to work from Menard
About 60% 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.
Time on the road from Menard: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Menard workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 372 commuters (the 1% 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.
How a workday changes Menard
On a workday 284 residents head out to work, 98 work right here, and 269 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.96 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
8% of working residents work in San Angelo
Where Menard clocks in
3% of workers
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.
Jobs in Menard: what the 367 are
367 jobs are based in Menard.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Menard, 2013 → 2023: 357 → 367. 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 Menard’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Menard is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Menard is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 377 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). 0.5% of Menard households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Menard’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Menard compares with U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 30 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,336 | Port Orford OR | 1,101 | $37K | 24.1% | 7.3% | 19% | D− |
| 5,337 | Eagle Butte SD | 1,269 | $46K | 31.8% | 24.7% | 20% | D− |
| 5,338 | Menard TX | 1,356 | $41K | 26.7% | 9.2% | 26% | D− |
| 5,339 | Tonasket WA | 1,133 | $38K | 26.7% | 6.1% | 26% | D− |
| 5,340 | Pleasant Plains Township MI | 1,737 | $33K | 30.0% | 7.5% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Menard, 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 Menard: questions
What is the median household income in Menard?
$41,144 (±$18,590) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Menard?
26.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Menard?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Menard work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Angelo (8%, 54 mi), Houston (3%, 273 mi), Brady (3%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Menard walkable?
Menard is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Menard 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 Menard, from the people who make the trip.
More of Menard
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.