Penitas has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
There are 789 jobs in Penitas; 1,779 of its residents have a job. Penitas grades C− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Measured by household income, Penitas is behind 89% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Penitas at work: what stands out
Jobs in Penitas have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Penitas went from 308 in 2013 to 789 in 2023, +156%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Penitas workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Penitas’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A young workforce
31% of Penitas’ working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Penitas pay little
28% of the jobs based in Penitas pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 38% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Penitas are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Penitas’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Penitas is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #550 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Penitas’ grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Penitas could be anywhere from D to B.
The kinds of work in Penitas
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Penitas, 2013 → 2023: 308 → 789. 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 Penitas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Penitas’ commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Penitas workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,078 commuters (the 12% 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.
How a workday changes Penitas
On a workday 1,746 residents head out to work, 33 work right here, and 756 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,500 people are in Penitas on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in McAllen
Where Penitas clocks in
16% of workers
10% 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.
How many miles Penitas commutes
About 26% 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.
Getting around Penitas: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Penitas is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns, #605 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Penitas 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 2,366 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). 0.6% of Penitas households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Penitas’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Penitas is 2,948th among 3,351 U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,946 | Truth or Consequences NM | 5,949 | $34K | 31.7% | 1.6% | 48% | C− |
| 2,947 | Central SC | 5,298 | $60K | 30.3% | 4.4% | 3% | C− |
| 2,948 | Penitas TX | 6,495 | $49K | 23.8% | 7.4% | 2% | C− |
| 2,949 | Pee Pee Township OH | 7,344 | $57K | 18.6% | 5.4% | 22% | C− |
| 2,950 | Bradford PA | 7,442 | $56K | 23.0% | 5.2% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,351 | 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 Penitas, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Bordering towns draw 13% of Penitas’ workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to La Joya. Darker towns draw more of Penitas’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 Penitas: questions
What is the median household income in Penitas?
$48,993 (±$14,016) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Penitas?
23.8%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Penitas?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Penitas work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McAllen (16%, 12 mi), La Joya (13%, 2 mi), Mission (10%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Penitas walkable?
Penitas is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Penitas without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Penitas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Penitas
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.