Photo: Akissforme · CC BY-SA 3.0Mercedes has lower household incomes than 91% of U.S. towns
The average commute takes 19 minutes each way; Texas averages 27, the U.S. 26. Poverty touches 28.6% of residents, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Mercedes grades C− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Mercedes, in brief
Commutes from Mercedes 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 ↓
Mercedes and Weslaco trade workers both ways
Weslaco is the top workplace for Mercedes residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Mercedes come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Mercedes workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Mercedes’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Mercedes’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mercedes is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #534 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Mercedes’ grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mercedes could be anywhere from D to C+.
Time on the road from Mercedes: 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 Mercedes workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,643 commuters (the 10% 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.
15% of working residents work in Weslaco
Where Mercedes clocks in
15% of workers
11% of workers
9% 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 work there is in Mercedes: 4,881 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mercedes, 2014 → 2024: 5,428 → 4,881. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mercedes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Mercedes for work, and who comes in
On a workday 5,214 residents head out to work, 731 work right here, and 4,150 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 (0.82 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where in the region Mercedes works
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Mercedes start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mercedes is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #435 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Mercedes 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 6,236 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). 9.8% of Mercedes households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Mercedes’ commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 13,000 to 24,000, and where Mercedes sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Rendon TX | 14,632 | $118K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,670 | Endicott NY | 13,068 | $47K | 29.0% | 5.8% | 13% | C− |
| 1,671 | Connersville IN | 13,406 | $49K | 23.4% | 3.9% | 27% | C− |
| 1,672 | Mercedes TX | 17,915 | $47K | 28.6% | 6.8% | 12% | C− |
| 1,673 | Amsterdam NY | 18,093 | $56K | 20.2% | 6.7% | 23% | C− |
| 1,674 | Oneonta NY | 15,665 | $61K | 16.6% | 6.4% | 19% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,822 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Mercedes, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Next door is work for 15% of Mercedes
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mercedes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercedes | – | C− | C | 19 min | $46,904 |
| Heidelberg | under 3% | C− | B− | 14 min | $33,953 |
| Weslaco | 15% | C− | B | 24 min | $59,551 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Weslaco. Darker towns draw more of Mercedes’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 2024, 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 Mercedes: questions
What is the median household income in Mercedes?
$46,904 (±$9,631) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mercedes?
28.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mercedes?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mercedes work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Weslaco (15%, 5 mi), McAllen (11%, 21 mi), Harlingen (9%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Mercedes walkable?
Mercedes is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mercedes without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mercedes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mercedes
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.