Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Olney are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 26.4% of residents, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Jobs and income earn Olney C−; getting around on foot earns it A. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, against 14% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Olney
Commutes from Olney are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Olney makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Olney are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Olney residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 37%. The jobs ↓
Few Olney workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Olney
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Olney is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #554 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Olney’s grade up (2.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($36,250, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Olney could be anywhere from D to C.
How long Olney spends getting to work: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Olney workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,281 commuters (the 3% 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.
Olney makes things: 43% of its jobs are in goods
1,259 jobs are based in Olney.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Olney, 2013 → 2023: 1,537 → 1,259. 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 Olney’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Olney
About 34% 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 daily commute in and out of Olney
On a workday 987 residents head out to work, 469 work right here, and 790 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 (0.86 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.
5% of working residents work in Graham
Where Olney clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Olney
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Olney is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #22 of 642 in Texas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,326 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). 8.0% of Olney households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Olney’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Olney is 4,002nd among 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | Campo CA | 2,729 | $79K | 15.0% | 7.5% | 4% | C− |
| 4,001 | Arkwright SC | 2,816 | $54K | 23.6% | 11.1% | 1% | C− |
| 4,002 | Olney TX | 3,000 | $36K | 26.4% | 2.4% | 32% | C− |
| 4,003 | Norton VA | 3,477 | $41K | 26.3% | 3.8% | 31% | C− |
| 4,004 | Joseph City AZ | 2,153 | $75K | 17.1% | 7.8% | 11% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | 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 Olney, 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 Olney: questions
What is the median household income in Olney?
$36,250 (±$9,608) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Olney?
26.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Olney?
13 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Olney work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Graham (5%, 21 mi), Wichita Falls (4%, 40 mi), Fort Worth (4%, 91 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Olney walkable?
Olney is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Olney without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Olney, from the people who make the trip.
More of Olney
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.