Red Schoolhouse, Old · Photo: Steven L. Driskell (SDriskell) · CC BY-SA 3.0Trinity has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
The two grades for Trinity are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Trinity is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 34.7% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Trinity apart
Trinity’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Trinity is Houston, 80 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (100) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
48% 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 ↓
Trinity workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical 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; with 839 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Trinity’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Trinity is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Trinity’s grade up (5.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($27,717, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Trinity could be anywhere from D− to C.
How far Trinity goes to work
About 48% 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.
About 37 minutes each way for Trinity’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Trinity workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 898 commuters (the 0% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 733 residents head out to work, 106 work right here, and 577 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.81 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.
12% of working residents work in Houston
Where Trinity clocks in
12% of workers
12% of workers
3% 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 Trinity’s employers do
683 jobs are based in Trinity.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Trinity, 2013 → 2023: 712 → 683. 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 Trinity’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Trinity is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Trinity is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 898 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). 24.0% of Trinity households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Trinity’s commuters take a bus or train.
Trinity next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,791 | La Pine OR | 2,563 | $58K | 19.2% | 5.1% | 9% | D |
| 4,792 | Cowan TN | 1,799 | $46K | 30.8% | 10.5% | 1% | D |
| 4,793 | Trinity TX | 2,450 | $28K | 34.7% | 5.5% | 13% | D |
| 4,794 | Rush Township OH | 2,801 | $56K | 19.3% | 8.7% | 4% | D |
| 4,795 | Superior AZ | 2,611 | $45K | 16.3% | 6.2% | 15% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Trinity, 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 Trinity: questions
What is the median household income in Trinity?
$27,717 (±$17,600) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Trinity?
34.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Trinity?
37 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Trinity work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (12%, 80 mi), Huntsville (12%, 20 mi), Conroe (3%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Trinity walkable?
Trinity is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Trinity without a car?
0% 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 Trinity, from the people who make the trip.
More of Trinity
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.