Photo: Josh Berglund from Richardson, United States · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Quanah are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 14.3% of residents, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. Jobs and income earn Quanah D; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in four stay in Quanah for work; outside it, Vernon is the main destination (12%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Quanah in brief
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
Commutes from Quanah are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Quanah’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Quanah is Vernon, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (107) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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 889 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Quanah
On income, poverty and job access, Quanah is better than 7% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Quanah’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.1%) is left out: Quanah’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Quanah could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The distance from Quanah to work
About 41% 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.
Each way, about 13 minutes from Quanah
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Quanah workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 791 commuters (the 10% 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 works in Quanah, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 623 residents head out to work, 266 work right here, and 609 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 (0.98 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.
Out of Quanah to work: where people go
Where Quanah clocks in
12% 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.
Inside Quanah’s 875 jobs
875 jobs are based in Quanah.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Quanah, 2013 → 2023: 489 → 875. 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 Quanah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Quanah start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Quanah is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 879 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). 2.3% of Quanah households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Quanah’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Quanah is 4,596th among 5,148 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| 23 | Shoreacres TX | 1,535 | $131K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,594 | Mountain Road VA | 1,574 | $41K | 14.1% | 0.0% | 2% | D |
| 4,595 | McConnelsville OH | 1,637 | $50K | 16.6% | 1.9% | 13% | D |
| 4,596 | Quanah TX | 2,097 | $51K | 14.3% | 3.1% | 30% | D |
| 4,597 | Liberty Township IN | 1,946 | $50K | 16.2% | 2.8% | 3% | D |
| 4,598 | Boles Acres NM | 1,848 | $53K | 16.2% | 1.8% | <1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Quanah, 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 Quanah: questions
What is the median household income in Quanah?
$51,161 (±$9,787) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Quanah?
14.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Quanah?
13 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Quanah work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vernon (12%, 27 mi), Wichita Falls (7%, 75 mi), Chillicothe (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Quanah walkable?
Quanah is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Quanah without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Quanah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Quanah
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.