Ricardo has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income D: better than 12% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability D: more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 58% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 24 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). Only 1% work in Ricardo; the top destination outside it is Kingsville (24%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Ricardo
Ricardo and Kingsville trade workers both ways
Kingsville is the top workplace for Ricardo residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Ricardo come from (34% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Ricardo is a place people come home to
There are 98 jobs based in Ricardo, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Ricardo has about 830 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
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 401 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Ricardo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Ricardo is better than 12% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Ricardo’s grade up ($70,391, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (40.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Ricardo’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, Ricardo could be anywhere from D− to B+.
24% of working residents work in Kingsville
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Ricardo clocks in
24% of workers
15% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Ricardo quiets down on a workday
On a workday 395 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 92 people come in from elsewhere.
About 830 people are in Ricardo on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.24 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.
Half of Ricardo commutes less than 32 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 34% 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.
What the 98 jobs in Ricardo are
98 jobs are based in Ricardo. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ricardo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ricardo, 2013 → 2023: 36 → 98. 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.
About 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ricardo workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 339 commuters (the 17% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Most trips from Ricardo start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ricardo is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ricardo 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 407 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). 2.5% of Ricardo households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ricardo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ricardo is 2,991st of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Ricardo, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Serenada TX | 1,444 | $155K | 1.5% | 2.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,989 | Franklin WI | 1,132 | $75K | 23.8% | 3.7% | 5% | D |
| 2,990 | Babson Park FL | 1,093 | $48K | 14.4% | 0.0% | 1% | D |
| 2,991 | Ricardo TX | 1,132 | $70K | 40.1% | 0.0% | 1% | D |
| 2,992 | La Harpe IL | 1,124 | $49K | 12.9% | 1.0% | 10% | D |
| 2,993 | Elephant Butte NM | 1,456 | $53K | 10.7% | 5.3% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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.
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 Ricardo: questions
What is the median household income in Ricardo?
$70,391 (±$30,232) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ricardo?
40.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ricardo?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ricardo work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kingsville (24%, 6 mi), Corpus Christi (15%, 47 mi), Alice (4%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ricardo walkable?
Ricardo is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ricardo 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 Ricardo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ricardo
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.