Photo: Leaflet · CC BY-SA 3.0Morton has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
6% of workers have no commute at all, against 14% across Texas. 26.7% of residents are in poverty; Texas has 13.8%. For jobs and income Morton is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Morton stands out on work
Morton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Morton is Lubbock, 51 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (97) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
42% 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; with 647 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Morton
On income, poverty and job access, Morton is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Morton’s grade.
Unemployment (5.3%) is left out: Morton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Morton stays D−.
How far Morton goes to work
About 42% 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.
Who works in Morton, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 514 residents head out to work, 133 work right here, and 195 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Morton on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.51 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.
15% of working residents work in Lubbock
Where Morton clocks in
13% 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.
What the 328 jobs in Morton are
328 jobs are based in Morton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Morton, 2013 → 2023: 262 → 328. 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 Morton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Morton: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Morton workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 631 commuters (the 6% 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.
Driving is how Morton gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 672 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). 6.6% of Morton households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Morton’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, and where Morton sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 26 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,687 | Century FL | 1,799 | $28K | 22.1% | 7.6% | 6% | D− |
| 5,688 | Durant MS | 1,958 | $30K | 31.8% | 0.0% | 6% | D− |
| 5,689 | Morton TX | 1,689 | $38K | 26.7% | 5.3% | 21% | D− |
| 5,690 | Pennington Gap VA | 1,568 | $22K | 56.8% | 22.4% | 11% | D− |
| 5,691 | Bylas AZ | 1,551 | $29K | 46.6% | 27.3% | <1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Morton, 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 Morton: questions
What is the median household income in Morton?
$38,438 (±$11,872) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Morton?
26.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Morton?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Morton work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lubbock (15%, 51 mi), Levelland (13%, 25 mi), Amarillo (2%, 115 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Morton walkable?
Morton is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Morton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Morton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Morton
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.