Photo: Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas · CC BY 2.0Merkel has lower unemployment (2.3%) than 80% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Merkel; the top destination outside it is Abilene (38%, 16 miles). Jobs and income earn Merkel B; getting around on foot earns it C+. Home is the office for 5% of workers (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Merkel
Merkel has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Merkel went from 523 in 2013 to 897 in 2023, +72%. The jobs ↓
Merkel and Abilene trade workers both ways
Abilene is the top workplace for Merkel residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in Merkel come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 ↓
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.
Why Merkel gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Merkel is better than 56% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Merkel’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (11.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Merkel could be anywhere from C to A−.
Inside Merkel’s 897 jobs
897 jobs are based in Merkel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Merkel, 2013 → 2023: 523 → 897. 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 Merkel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Merkel’s working residents head each day
Where Merkel clocks in
38% of workers
2% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Merkel
About 30% 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.
Merkel by day and by night
On a workday 917 residents head out to work, 228 work right here, and 669 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Merkel on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 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.
About 27 minutes each way for Merkel’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Merkel workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,170 commuters (the 5% 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.
In Merkel, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Merkel is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,231 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). 1.9% of Merkel households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Merkel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,400, Merkel ranks 2,073rd of 5,401 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,071 | Lake City GA | 2,866 | $54K | 19.1% | 1.9% | 4% | B |
| 2,072 | Cazenovia NY | 2,722 | $93K | 5.8% | 6.2% | 17% | B |
| 2,073 | Merkel TX | 2,496 | $74K | 11.4% | 2.3% | 20% | B |
| 2,074 | Vernon Township IN | 2,867 | $77K | 11.0% | 1.1% | 4% | B |
| 2,075 | Middleton NH | 1,863 | $102K | 5.8% | 4.5% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,401 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Merkel, 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 Merkel: questions
What is the median household income in Merkel?
$73,500 (±$24,261) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Merkel?
11.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Merkel?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Merkel work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Abilene (38%, 16 mi), Dallas (2%, 190 mi), Fort Worth (2%, 156 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Merkel walkable?
Merkel is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Merkel without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Merkel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Merkel
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.