Sparks has lower household incomes than 98% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 3% of workers (Texas 14%). Below the poverty line: 51.7% of residents (Texas 13.8%). For jobs and income Sparks is better than 13% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Sparks
More than half of Sparks works in El Paso
1,641 working residents, 71%, have their main job in El Paso, 17 miles away. That’s 71 times as many as work in Sparks itself. The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
59% of the jobs in Sparks are in trade, transport and utilities, against 23% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Sparks is a place people come home to
There are 496 jobs based in Sparks, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sparks has about 2,300 people in it, 44% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Sparks 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 ↓
Few Sparks workers work from home
Only 3% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Sparks
Job access by car holds Sparks’ grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sparks could be anywhere from D to B−.
71% of working residents work in El Paso
Where Sparks clocks in
71% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
What the 496 jobs in Sparks are
496 jobs are based in Sparks.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sparks, 2013 → 2023: 508 → 496. 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 Sparks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Sparks for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,304 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 483 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Sparks on a workday afternoon, 44% fewer than live here.
0.21 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.
Sparks’ commute takes 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 Sparks workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,578 commuters (the 3% 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 commute from Sparks, by distance
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.
In Sparks, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,628 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.6% of Sparks households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sparks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,112 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600, Sparks comes 3,628th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| 4 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,626 | Hampton IA | 4,264 | $47K | 18.1% | 4.8% | 34% | D |
| 3,627 | Marietta Township OH | 4,176 | $56K | 15.0% | 7.9% | 8% | D |
| 3,628 | Sparks TX | 4,134 | $35K | 51.7% | 9.6% | 1% | D |
| 3,629 | Williamsburg KY | 5,371 | $38K | 30.9% | 3.9% | 32% | D |
| 3,630 | Salem NJ | 5,389 | $39K | 24.8% | 10.2% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | 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 Sparks, 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 Sparks: questions
What is the median household income in Sparks?
$34,876 (±$23,151) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sparks?
51.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sparks?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sparks work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are El Paso (71%, 16 mi), Horizon City (3%, 3 mi), Socorro (2%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sparks walkable?
Sparks is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sparks without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sparks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sparks
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.