Palmer’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Jobs & income D: better than 10% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability D−: more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 24 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). Only 0% work in Palmer; the top destination outside it is Brownsville (22%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Palmer
Palmer is a place people come home to
There are 3 jobs based in Palmer, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Palmer and Brownsville trade workers both ways
Brownsville is the top workplace for Palmer residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Palmer come from (33% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Palmer workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 320 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Palmer’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Palmer is better than 10% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Palmer’s grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($18,675, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Palmer’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, Palmer stays D.
Palmer quiets down on a workday
On a workday 320 residents head out to work, 0 work right here, and 3 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Palmer on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.01 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.
22% of working residents work in Brownsville
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Palmer clocks in
22% of workers
19% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Palmer workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 466 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
What the 3 jobs in Palmer are
3 jobs are based in Palmer. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Palmer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Palmer, 2013 → 2023: 7 → 3. 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.
Half of Palmer commutes less than 14 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 20% 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.
Most trips from Palmer start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Palmer is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Palmer 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 466 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). 0.0% of Palmer households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Palmer’s commuters take a bus or train.
Palmer is 4,859th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Palmer, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 31 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,857 | Beaver Township OH | 1,271 | $51K | 15.4% | 10.2% | 1% | D |
| 4,858 | Cromwell Township PA | 1,488 | $52K | 12.3% | 4.1% | 12% | D |
| 4,859 | Palmer TX | 1,435 | $19K | 76.2% | 0.0% | 0% | D |
| 4,860 | MacArthur WV | 1,493 | $36K | 36.4% | 16.9% | 2% | D |
| 4,861 | Cordova AL | 1,679 | $38K | 29.0% | 4.6% | 4% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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.
Palmer and the towns next door
Darker towns draw more of Palmer’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Palmer workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer | – | D | D− | 24 min | $18,675 |
| Encantada-Ranchito-El Calaboz | under 2% | C− | D− | 20 min | $45,505 |
| Rice Tracts | under 2% | A | D− | 27 min | $133,472 |
| La Paloma | under 2% | C+ | D− | 29 min | $59,840 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Palmer: questions
What is the median household income in Palmer?
$18,675 (±$16,355) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Palmer?
76.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Palmer?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Palmer work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brownsville (22%, 11 mi), Harlingen (19%, 9 mi), San Benito (10%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Palmer walkable?
Palmer is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Palmer without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Palmer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Palmer
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.