Primera has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
At home: 7% of workers have no commute at all (Texas 14%). Primera has 453 jobs, against 1,958 working residents. The two grades for Primera are B for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Primera and work: the main findings
40% of Primera works in Harlingen
781 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Harlingen, 4 miles away across the town line. That’s 40 times as many as work in Primera itself. The commute map ↓
Primera is a place people come home to
There are 453 jobs based in Primera, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Primera has about 4,000 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Primera are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
42% of the jobs in Primera are in trade, transport and utilities, against 18% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Primera workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Primera’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 17% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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.
The figures behind Primera’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Primera is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #237 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Primera’s grade up (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Primera could be anywhere from C+ to A.
40% of working residents work in Harlingen
Where Primera clocks in
40% of workers
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.
Who leaves Primera for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,936 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 431 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Primera on a workday afternoon, 27% 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.
From Primera, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Primera workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,410 commuters (the 7% 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.
The kinds of work in Primera
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Primera, 2013 → 2023: 264 → 453. 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 Primera’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Primera
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.
For most of Primera, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Primera is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns, #563 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Primera 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 2,587 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). 4.2% of Primera households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Primera’s commuters take a bus or train.
Primera places 1,521st of 3,612 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,400
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,519 | Milan IL | 5,028 | $63K | 12.3% | 1.1% | 7% | B |
| 1,520 | Princeton MN | 5,480 | $62K | 8.5% | 1.6% | 21% | B |
| 1,521 | Primera TX | 5,478 | $80K | 13.1% | 2.9% | 1% | B |
| 1,522 | North Syracuse NY | 6,773 | $71K | 9.2% | 3.8% | 5% | B |
| 1,523 | Lebanon Township NJ | 6,229 | $130K | 7.9% | 8.2% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,612 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Primera, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Work next door: 40% of Primera’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Harlingen. Darker towns draw more of Primera’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 Primera: questions
What is the median household income in Primera?
$80,116 (±$11,903) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Primera?
13.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Primera?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Primera work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harlingen (40%, 4 mi), Brownsville (8%, 23 mi), San Benito (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Primera walkable?
Primera is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Primera without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Primera, from the people who make the trip.
More of Primera
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.