Monte Alto has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Monte Alto grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Measured by household income, Monte Alto is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 67.1% of residents, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Monte Alto in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Monte Alto than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Monte Alto fell from 399 in 2013 to 284 in 2023, −29%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Monte Alto workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Monte Alto are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 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 444 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Monte Alto’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Monte Alto is better than 12% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Monte Alto’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Monte Alto’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, Monte Alto could be anywhere from D to C−.
Goods jobs make up 48% of work in Monte Alto
284 jobs are based in Monte Alto.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monte Alto, 2013 → 2023: 399 → 284. 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 Monte Alto’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Monte Alto: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monte Alto workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 833 commuters (the 4% 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.
Who commutes out of Monte Alto, and who commutes in
On a workday 430 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 270 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.
0.64 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.
10% of working residents work in McAllen
Where Monte Alto clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
8% 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.
How far it is to work from Monte Alto
About 29% 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.
The commute in Monte Alto is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monte Alto is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 867 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). 4.0% of Monte Alto households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Monte Alto’s commuters take a bus or train.
Monte Alto next to U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200: 4,660th of 5,552 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,658 | Ripley Township OH | 2,476 | $64K | 25.0% | 2.8% | 2% | D |
| 4,659 | Hopewell Township PA | 1,881 | $64K | 16.6% | 4.5% | 2% | D |
| 4,660 | Monte Alto TX | 2,350 | $30K | 67.1% | 2.5% | 3% | D |
| 4,661 | Bald Knob AR | 2,548 | $48K | 16.1% | 6.5% | 11% | D |
| 4,662 | Ponderay ID | 2,024 | $51K | 14.6% | 6.5% | 16% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | 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 Monte Alto, 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 Monte Alto: questions
What is the median household income in Monte Alto?
$30,486 (±$17,498) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monte Alto?
67.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monte Alto?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monte Alto work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McAllen (10%, 20 mi), Edinburg (10%, 12 mi), Weslaco (8%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monte Alto walkable?
Monte Alto is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monte Alto without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monte Alto, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monte Alto
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.