Photo: Fredlyfish4 · CC BY-SA 3.0Parker has some of the highest household incomes of any U.S. town
Measured by household income, Parker is among the highest-earning towns in the country. 5.4% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Texas. Jobs and income earn Parker A+; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Parker: the gist
Jobs in Parker have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Parker went from 367 in 2013 to 883 in 2023, +141%. The jobs ↓
Home offices are common in Parker
37% of Parker workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Parker
73% of Parker residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 53% of the jobs based in Parker pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 99% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Parker is a place people come home to
There are 883 jobs based in Parker, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Parker has about 4,400 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Inside Parker’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Parker is better than 98% of U.S. towns, #29 of 642 in Texas. Household income is its strongest input ($229,080, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (2.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Parker could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Services make up most of the work in Parker
883 jobs are based in Parker.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parker, 2013 → 2023: 367 → 883. 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 Parker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Parker
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parker workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,773 commuters (the 36% 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.
A workday in Parker: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,906 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 855 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,400 people are in Parker on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.30 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 Dallas
Where Parker clocks in
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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Parker
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.
In Parker, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Parker is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns, #446 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 2,792 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Parker households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Parker’s commuters take a bus or train.
Parker is 95th of 3,306 U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| 4 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Alamo Heights TX | 7,632 | $183K | 2.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Pound Ridge NY | 5,057 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.0% | 10% | A+ |
| 94 | Auburn Township OH | 6,593 | $156K | 3.4% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| 95 | Parker TX | 6,462 | $229K | 5.4% | 2.5% | 1% | A+ |
| 96 | Argyle TX | 6,372 | $181K | 1.2% | 3.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 97 | Summit WI | 5,323 | $141K | 5.0% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,306 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Parker, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
22% of Parker works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Plano (16%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Parker workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker | – | A+ | C | 27 min | $229,080 |
| Plano | 16% | A | A− | 25 min | $112,253 |
| Wylie | under 3% | A | B− | 31 min | $119,522 |
| Allen | 6% | A | B | 28 min | $130,901 |
| Lucas | under 3% | A+ | C | 30 min | $221,364 |
| Murphy | under 3% | A+ | B | 32 min | $175,699 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Parker’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Parker: questions
What is the median household income in Parker?
$229,080 (±$45,246) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parker?
5.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parker?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 36% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parker work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (22%, 20 mi), Plano (16%, 7 mi), Richardson (8%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parker walkable?
Parker is more walkable than 33% 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 Parker without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parker
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.