Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Households in Three Rivers earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
26.2% of residents are in poverty; Texas has 13.8%. Jobs and income earn Three Rivers D−; getting around on foot earns it C. For 6% of workers, the job is at home, against 14% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Three Rivers apart
A big share show a job far from home
61% 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 ↓
Three Rivers is where the jobs are
Three Rivers has 994 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Three Rivers’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Three Rivers is Corpus Christi, 79 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (27) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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 346 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Three Rivers
On income, poverty and job access, Three Rivers is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Three Rivers’ grade.
Unemployment (8.5%) is left out: Three Rivers’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Three Rivers could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Half of Three Rivers commutes less than 68 miles
About 61% 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.
In and out of Three Rivers on a workday
On a workday 296 residents head out to work, 50 work right here, and 944 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Three Rivers on a workday afternoon, 37% more than live here.
2.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Who travels to work in Three Rivers, and from where
Where Three Rivers clocks in
8% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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 Three Rivers
994 jobs are based in Three Rivers.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Three Rivers, 2013 → 2023: 989 → 994. 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 Three Rivers’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Three Rivers: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Three Rivers workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 455 commuters (the 6% 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.
Few in Three Rivers walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Three Rivers is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. 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 484 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). 17.5% of Three Rivers households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Three Rivers’ commuters take a bus or train.
Three Rivers next to U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 26 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,610 | Moriarty NM | 2,074 | $32K | 36.7% | 11.6% | 14% | D− |
| 5,611 | Pomeroy OH | 1,514 | $33K | 39.6% | 2.8% | 10% | D− |
| 5,612 | Three Rivers TX | 1,732 | $47K | 26.2% | 8.5% | 14% | D− |
| 5,613 | Briley Township MI | 1,828 | $43K | 21.3% | 2.8% | 13% | D− |
| 5,614 | Amargosa Valley NV | 1,445 | $53K | 36.7% | 1.2% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Three Rivers, 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 Three Rivers: questions
What is the median household income in Three Rivers?
$46,705 (±$20,024) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Three Rivers?
26.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Three Rivers?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Three Rivers work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Corpus Christi (8%, 79 mi), San Antonio (8%, 72 mi), Houston (7%, 191 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Three Rivers walkable?
Three Rivers is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Three Rivers without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Three Rivers, from the people who make the trip.
More of Three Rivers
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.