Photo: Hourick · Public domainHousehold incomes put Tenaha near the very bottom of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Tenaha is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (B−). Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Below the poverty line: 43.1% of residents, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Tenaha, in brief
Tenaha is a place people come home to
There are 77 jobs based in Tenaha, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
Few Tenaha workers work from home
Only 0% 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; with 257 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Tenaha’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Tenaha is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Tenaha’s grade up (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($27,813, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Tenaha’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Tenaha stays D−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Tenaha
On a workday 251 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 71 people come in from elsewhere.
About 830 people are in Tenaha on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.30 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.
The distance from Tenaha to work
About 35% 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 trip from Tenaha: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tenaha workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 460 commuters (the <1% 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.
21% of working residents work in Center
Where Tenaha clocks in
21% 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.
What work there is in Tenaha: 77 jobs
77 jobs are based in Tenaha.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tenaha, 2013 → 2023: 157 → 77. 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 Tenaha’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Tenaha: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 462 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). 23.5% of Tenaha households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Tenaha’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tenaha next to U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Weston TX | 1,140 | $144K | 2.8% | 0.7% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Randolph AFB TX | 1,240 | $113K | 2.8% | 3.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,046 | Willacoochee GA | 1,256 | $33K | 27.7% | 1.1% | 17% | D− |
| 3,047 | Logansport LA | 1,325 | $32K | 36.3% | 14.6% | 5% | D− |
| 3,048 | Tenaha TX | 1,005 | $28K | 43.1% | 0.0% | 2% | D− |
| 3,049 | Rainelle WV | 1,180 | $36K | 29.8% | 2.7% | 11% | D− |
| 3,050 | Wilcox Township MI | 1,186 | $45K | 29.5% | 7.1% | 2% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Tenaha, 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 Tenaha: questions
What is the median household income in Tenaha?
$27,813 (±$8,129) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tenaha?
43.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tenaha?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tenaha work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Center (21%, 11 mi), Joaquin (7%, 12 mi), Houston (5%, 164 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tenaha walkable?
Tenaha is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tenaha without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tenaha, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tenaha
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.