Photo: Stedil · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Montgomery (7.2%) than in 84% of U.S. towns
Only 3% work in Montgomery itself; outside it, Houston draws the most (31%, 46 miles). Montgomery grades C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. 8% of workers work from home; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Montgomery: the figures worth knowing
Jobs in Montgomery have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Montgomery went from 492 in 2013 to 1,496 in 2023, +204%. The jobs ↓
Montgomery workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Montgomery
66% of Montgomery residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 45% of the jobs based in Montgomery pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
36% of the jobs based in Montgomery are held by workers 29 or younger, against 22% of Montgomery’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
31% of Montgomery works in Houston
368 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Houston, 46 miles away. That’s 10 times as many as work in Montgomery itself. The commute map ↓
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.
Where Montgomery’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Montgomery is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #375 of 642 in Texas. The poverty rate holds Montgomery’s grade up (9.6%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Montgomery could be anywhere from D to A.
What Montgomery’s employers do
1,496 jobs are based in Montgomery.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montgomery, 2013 → 2023: 492 → 1,496. 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 Montgomery’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Montgomery: about 38 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montgomery workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 983 commuters (the 8% 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.
Where Montgomery goes to work
Where Montgomery clocks in
31% of workers
12% of workers
4% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Montgomery
On a workday 1,160 residents head out to work, 34 work right here, and 1,462 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in Montgomery on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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.
How many miles Montgomery commutes
About 21% 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 Montgomery is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Montgomery is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #327 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Montgomery 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 1,063 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). 4.8% of Montgomery households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Montgomery’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,894th of 4,562: where Montgomery ranks among U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,892 | Blasdell NY | 2,562 | $70K | 14.2% | 11.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,893 | Bean Station TN | 3,190 | $45K | 18.3% | 0.8% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,894 | Montgomery TX | 3,105 | $73K | 9.6% | 7.2% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,895 | Mount Morris Township IL | 3,639 | $50K | 12.6% | 2.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,896 | Hancock ME | 2,593 | $72K | 8.2% | 4.3% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Montgomery, 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 Montgomery: questions
What is the median household income in Montgomery?
$72,917 (±$14,915) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montgomery?
9.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montgomery?
38 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Montgomery work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (31%, 46 mi), Conroe (12%, 13 mi), The Woodlands (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Montgomery walkable?
Montgomery is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montgomery without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montgomery, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montgomery
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.