Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Pharr trail those of 84% of U.S. towns
27.6% of residents live below the poverty line, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Pharr grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. 6% of workers have no commute at all; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Pharr apart on work
Pharr trades workers with the towns around it
Pharr has about as many jobs (30,950) as working residents (26,581), but they are mostly different people: 21,226 residents leave for work each day while 25,595 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Pharr are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Pharr and McAllen trade workers both ways
McAllen is the top workplace for Pharr residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Pharr come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Pharr residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Pharr workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Pharr’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Pharr are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 46 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Pharr
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pharr is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #505 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Pharr’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pharr could be anywhere from C− to C.
How many people are in Pharr by day
On a workday 21,226 residents head out to work, 5,355 work right here, and 25,595 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 (1.16 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.
24% of working residents work in McAllen
Where Pharr clocks in
24% of workers
10% of workers
5% 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 Pharr
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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Inside Pharr’s 30,950 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pharr, 2013 → 2023: 24,089 → 30,950. 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 Pharr’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 21 minutes in Pharr
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pharr workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 30,049 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 Pharr gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pharr is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #287 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 32,126 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). 5.3% of Pharr households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Pharr’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pharr next to U.S. towns of 57,000 to 109,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Flower Mound TX | 79,540 | $161K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 12 | Celina TX | 64,427 | $171K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 525 | Hemet CA | 93,649 | $58K | 14.9% | 8.0% | 12% | C− |
| 526 | Apple Valley CA | 75,247 | $70K | 16.6% | 7.5% | 15% | C− |
| 527 | Pharr TX | 80,830 | $53K | 27.6% | 7.2% | 20% | C− |
| 528 | Schenectady NY | 69,471 | $58K | 23.8% | 8.7% | 20% | C− |
| 529 | Jacksonville NC | 72,732 | $58K | 12.7% | 7.4% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 554 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Pharr, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
26% of Pharr works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to McAllen (24%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pharr workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pharr | – | C− | B− | 21 min | $52,814 |
| Lopezville | under 2% | C− | D | 22 min | $38,207 |
| McAllen | 24% | C | B | 22 min | $61,579 |
| San Juan | 2% | C | C | 25 min | $56,562 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pharr’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 Pharr: questions
What is the median household income in Pharr?
$52,814 (±$4,585) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pharr?
27.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pharr?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pharr work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McAllen (24%, 5 mi), Edinburg (10%, 11 mi), Mission (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pharr walkable?
Pharr is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pharr without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pharr, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pharr
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.