Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Lubbock draws more than half of Slaton’s working residents
Measured by household income, Slaton is behind 79% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Slaton are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 5% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Slaton stands out on work
More than half of Slaton works in Lubbock
1,275 working residents, 52%, have their main job in Lubbock, 16 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Slaton itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Slaton are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 46 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Slaton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Slaton is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #478 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Slaton’s grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.7%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Slaton could be anywhere from D to B+.
Where Slaton goes to work
Where Slaton clocks in
2% of workers
1% 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.
How long Slaton spends getting to work: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Slaton workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,153 commuters (the 5% 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.
Slaton quiets down on a workday
On a workday 2,122 residents head out to work, 315 work right here, and 633 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Slaton on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.39 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.
What work there is in Slaton: 948 jobs
948 jobs are based in Slaton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Slaton, 2013 → 2023: 937 → 948. 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 Slaton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Slaton, 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.
The commute in Slaton is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Slaton is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #77 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 2,267 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). 7.1% of Slaton households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Slaton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Slaton next to U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700: 2,758th of 3,476 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,756 | Hanover Township IN | 5,695 | $66K | 11.4% | 6.4% | 10% | C− |
| 2,757 | Sugar Creek Township IN | 7,177 | $56K | 14.5% | 5.5% | 6% | C− |
| 2,758 | Slaton TX | 5,684 | $57K | 15.7% | 6.7% | 13% | C− |
| 2,759 | Harter Township IL | 5,912 | $53K | 16.2% | 3.4% | 22% | C− |
| 2,760 | Oneonta NY | 4,961 | $79K | 14.1% | 7.6% | 13% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | 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 Slaton, 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 Slaton: questions
What is the median household income in Slaton?
$56,676 (±$5,414) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Slaton?
15.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Slaton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Slaton work?
13% work in town.
Is Slaton walkable?
Slaton is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Slaton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Slaton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Slaton
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.