Ammie Wilson House · Photo: Susan Bartley · CC BY-SA 3.0Plano has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 221,776 people commute in to work
Household incomes here are higher than in 85% of U.S. towns. Plano has 254,390 jobs, against 143,279 working residents. Jobs and income earn Plano A; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Plano, in brief
A lot of Plano works one town over
36% of working residents work in a town that borders Plano: Dallas (21%), Richardson (7%) and Frisco (5%). Next door ↓
Home offices are common in Plano
28% of Plano workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Time on the road ↓
Plano is where the jobs are
Plano has 254,390 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Plano has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Plano went from 170,461 in 2013 to 254,390 in 2023, +49%. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Plano’s workers comes from Dallas
26,738 of the people who work in Plano live in Dallas, 18 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
Where Plano’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Plano is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #104 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 98% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Plano could be anywhere from A− to A.
About 25 minutes each way for Plano’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plano workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 112,603 commuters (the 28% 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.
Who commutes out of Plano, and who commutes in
On a workday 110,665 residents head out to work and 32,614 work right here.
About 404,000 people are in Plano on a workday afternoon, 38% more 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.
73% of the jobs in Plano pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plano, 2013 → 2023: 170,461 → 254,390. 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 Plano’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Plano
Where Plano clocks in
7% 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.
Plano’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Plano is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plano is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #32 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 155,370 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 50% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 10% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 72% 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). 3.7% of Plano households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Plano’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
9th of 78: where Plano ranks among U.S. towns of 205,000 to 396,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | McKinney TX | 236,001 | $124K | 5.7% | 3.7% | 13% | A |
| 7 | Gilbert AZ | 287,285 | $123K | 5.3% | 3.5% | 15% | A |
| 8 | Fremont CA | 226,442 | $182K | 5.2% | 4.7% | 17% | A |
| 9 | Plano TX | 293,028 | $112K | 6.8% | 4.0% | 23% | A |
| 10 | Babylon NY | 219,766 | $128K | 6.1% | 4.8% | 21% | A |
| 11 | Islip NY | 340,867 | $130K | 6.4% | 4.5% | 28% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Irving TX | 257,076 | $82K | 11.0% | 4.5% | 21% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
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 Plano, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Next door is work for 36% of Plano
The biggest share goes to Dallas (21%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Plano workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plano | – | A | A− | 25 min | $112,253 |
| Allen | under 3% | A | B | 28 min | $130,901 |
| Parker | under 3% | A+ | C | 27 min | $229,080 |
| Richardson | 7% | B+ | A | 24 min | $98,111 |
| Carrollton | 3% | A | A− | 24 min | $101,396 |
| Hebron | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Frisco | 5% | A | B | 29 min | $150,212 |
| The Colony | under 3% | A | B | 27 min | $114,511 |
| Dallas | 21% | B− | A | 26 min | $70,518 |
| Murphy | under 3% | A+ | B | 32 min | $175,699 |
Same-state neighbors only. Hebron: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Plano’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 Plano: questions
What is the median household income in Plano?
$112,253 (±$3,281) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plano?
6.8%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plano?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plano work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (21%, 18 mi), Richardson (7%, 6 mi), Irving (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plano walkable?
Plano is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plano without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 10% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plano, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plano
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.