Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Ranger’s household incomes are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Ranger D; getting around on foot earns it C. 23.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Texas. Home is the office for 2% of workers, next to 14% for Texas as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ranger and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
57% 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 ↓
Few Ranger 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 ↓
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 Ranger’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ranger is better than 11% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Ranger’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($34,336, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ranger could be anywhere from D− to C.
How many miles Ranger commutes
About 57% 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 Ranger: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ranger workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,100 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.
The daily flow of workers through Ranger
On a workday 890 residents head out to work, 121 work right here, and 464 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Ranger on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
10% of working residents work in Eastland
Where Ranger clocks in
10% of workers
9% 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.
Jobs in Ranger: what the 585 are
585 jobs are based in Ranger.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ranger, 2013 → 2023: 508 → 585. 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 Ranger’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Ranger walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ranger is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ranger 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 1,126 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). 8.3% of Ranger households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ranger’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Ranger is 4,750th of 5,552 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,748 | Cabazon CA | 1,887 | $49K | 24.4% | 8.9% | 2% | D |
| 4,749 | Irwin SC | 1,919 | $56K | 26.1% | 10.7% | <1% | D |
| 4,750 | Ranger TX | 2,335 | $34K | 23.3% | 3.5% | 12% | D |
| 4,751 | Crystal Falls Township MI | 1,676 | $58K | 12.8% | 9.3% | 12% | D |
| 4,752 | Cato Township MI | 3,002 | $68K | 17.1% | 8.4% | 12% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | 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 Ranger, 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 Ranger: questions
What is the median household income in Ranger?
$34,336 (±$9,328) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ranger?
23.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ranger?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ranger work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eastland (10%, 10 mi), Fort Worth (9%, 80 mi), Dallas (3%, 113 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ranger walkable?
Ranger is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ranger without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ranger, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ranger
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.