Most of Preston commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Preston C+; getting around on foot earns it C−. Preston has 79 jobs for 883 working residents. Only 2% work in Preston; the top destination outside it is Denison (14%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Preston
Preston is a place people come home to
There are 79 jobs based in Preston, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Preston has about 940 people in it, 46% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
46% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Preston workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical 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; with 883 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Preston’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Preston is better than 42% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Preston’s grade up (6.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (11.6%) is left out: Preston’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Preston could be anywhere from D to B+.
Who leaves Preston for work, and who comes in
On a workday 869 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 65 people come in from elsewhere.
About 940 people are in Preston on a workday afternoon, 46% 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.
Half of Preston commutes less than 44 miles
About 46% 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.
Time on the road from Preston: about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Preston workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 732 commuters (the 11% 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.
Where Preston’s working residents head each day
Where Preston clocks in
14% of workers
12% 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.
What Preston’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Preston, 2013 → 2023: 124 → 79. 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 Preston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Preston, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Preston is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 821 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 Preston households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Preston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Preston ranks 2,841st of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 27 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,839 | Washington WI | 1,990 | $62K | 5.6% | 3.5% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,840 | New Hope NC | 1,487 | $59K | 8.6% | 12.7% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,841 | Preston TX | 1,747 | $65K | 6.7% | 11.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,842 | Fountain Green UT | 1,333 | $73K | 5.3% | 4.2% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,843 | North Bennington VT | 1,688 | $69K | 7.4% | 7.0% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Preston, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
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 Preston: questions
What is the median household income in Preston?
$65,069 (±$24,904) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Preston?
6.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Preston?
34 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Preston work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denison (14%, 8 mi), Sherman (12%, 16 mi), Dallas (7%, 74 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Preston walkable?
Preston is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Preston 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 Preston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Preston
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.