Roma Historic District · Photo: Eugene George, Jr., Photographer · Public domainRoma’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Measured by household income, Roma is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 37.1% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. Roma grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Roma apart on work
Fewer than half of Roma workers earn over $40,000 a year
33% of Roma’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 25% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
47% 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 ↓
Nearly all the work in Roma is services
85% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
Why Roma gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Roma is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #640 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Roma’s grade up (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($24,579, U.S. $80,734).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Roma stays D−.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Roma
2,103 jobs are based in Roma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roma, 2013 → 2023: 1,732 → 2,103. 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 Roma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Roma
About 47% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Roma
On a workday 2,622 residents head out to work, 733 work right here, and 1,370 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Roma on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.63 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.
11% of working residents work in Rio Grande City
Where Roma clocks in
8% of workers
5% 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.
Commuting from Roma: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roma workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,948 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.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Good to walk, short on transit: Roma
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Roma is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #42 of 642 in Texas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,566 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). 20.2% of Roma households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Roma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Roma next to U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Lucas TX | 8,896 | $221K | 1.3% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Lantana TX | 12,766 | $199K | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,693 | Firebaugh CA | 8,774 | $48K | 36.6% | 18.7% | 23% | D− |
| 2,694 | Helena-West Helena AR | 8,216 | $36K | 31.7% | 17.7% | 34% | D− |
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Roma, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Next door to Roma
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Roma workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roma | – | D− | A− | 26 min | $24,579 |
| Ramos | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
| Moraida | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
| Escobares | under 3% | D− | C | 19 min | $29,844 |
| Pena | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
| Evergreen | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Ramos, Moraida, Pena and Evergreen: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Roma’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 Roma: questions
What is the median household income in Roma?
$24,579 (±$5,710) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roma?
37.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roma?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roma work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rio Grande City (11%, 11 mi), McAllen (8%, 49 mi), Edinburg (5%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Roma walkable?
Roma is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Roma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roma
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.