Households in Progreso earn less than those in 92% of U.S. towns
2% of workers have no commute at all (Texas 14%). Poverty touches 28.4% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. For jobs and income Progreso is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Progreso and work: the main findings
Progreso is a place people come home to
There are 294 jobs based in Progreso, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Progreso workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Progreso’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 ↓
Few Progreso workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Progreso 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.
The four measures behind Progreso’s grade
Job access by car holds Progreso’s grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Progreso could be anywhere from D to A−.
Who leaves Progreso for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,418 residents head out to work, 31 work right here, and 263 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Progreso on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.20 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Progreso
294 jobs are based in Progreso.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Progreso, 2013 → 2023: 175 → 294. 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 Progreso’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Progreso: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Progreso workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,906 commuters (the 2% 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.
18% of working residents work in Weslaco
Where Progreso clocks in
18% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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.
The commute from Progreso, by distance
About 22% 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.
Progreso is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,938 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). 3.4% of Progreso households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Progreso’s commuters take a bus or train.
Progreso next to U.S. towns of 3,600 to 6,900: 2,831st of 3,627 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 7 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,829 | Hanover NY | 6,808 | $72K | 14.2% | 6.5% | 24% | C |
| 2,830 | Hidden Valley Lake CA | 5,872 | $84K | 7.8% | 11.2% | 8% | C |
| 2,831 | Progreso TX | 5,148 | $46K | 28.4% | 4.4% | 2% | C |
| 2,832 | China Grove NC | 4,650 | $54K | 17.2% | 6.0% | 4% | C |
| 2,833 | Quincy Township PA | 5,283 | $63K | 10.4% | 6.8% | 7% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | 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 Progreso, 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 Progreso: questions
What is the median household income in Progreso?
$45,924 (±$41,895) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Progreso?
28.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Progreso?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Progreso work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Weslaco (18%, 5 mi), McAllen (10%, 20 mi), Harlingen (7%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Progreso walkable?
Progreso is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Progreso without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Progreso, from the people who make the trip.
More of Progreso
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.