Photo: Barbara Brannon · CC BY 2.0At 10.6%, unemployment in Spearman is higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Spearman are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. 2% of workers have no commute at all, next to 14% for Texas as a whole. About two in five stay in Spearman for work; outside it, Amarillo is the main destination (5%, 78 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Spearman stands out on work
Most jobs in Spearman go to people who live here
Of the 1,045 jobs based in Spearman, 52% are held by Spearman residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Few Spearman 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.
Spearman’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Spearman is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #524 of 642 in Texas. The poverty rate holds Spearman’s grade up (7.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spearman could be anywhere from D to B+.
Spearman by day and by night
On a workday 817 residents head out to work, 539 work right here, and 506 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Spearman on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.77 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Spearman
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spearman workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,255 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 places Spearman commutes to
Where Spearman clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Spearman
1,045 jobs are based in Spearman.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spearman, 2013 → 2023: 1,237 → 1,045. 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 Spearman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Spearman commutes
About 25% 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.
For most of Spearman, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spearman is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #212 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% of 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 1,284 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). 8.2% of Spearman households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spearman’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Spearman ranks: 3,675th of 4,618 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,673 | Berlin Township PA | 2,464 | $68K | 12.3% | 6.0% | 7% | C− |
| 3,674 | Ocean Park WA | 2,122 | $66K | 10.2% | 6.6% | 10% | C− |
| 3,675 | Spearman TX | 2,956 | $69K | 7.7% | 10.6% | 40% | C− |
| 3,676 | Highland NY | 2,214 | $64K | 7.1% | 8.7% | 13% | C− |
| 3,677 | Sutton Township OH | 3,000 | $41K | 22.5% | 1.5% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Spearman, 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 Spearman: questions
What is the median household income in Spearman?
$68,617 (±$16,111) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spearman?
7.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spearman?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spearman work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amarillo (5%, 78 mi), Gruver (4%, 13 mi), Perryton (4%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spearman walkable?
Spearman is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spearman 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 Spearman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spearman
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.