Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Tyler has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 54,433 people commute in to work
About half work in Tyler; the top destination outside it is Dallas (3%, 91 miles). 76,299 jobs are based in Tyler; 42,957 of its residents have a job. Tyler grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Tyler, in a few figures
Tyler is where the jobs are
Tyler has 76,299 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Tyler are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Tyler draws workers from far and wide
The 76,299 jobs in Tyler are filled from a wide area. Tyler’s own residents hold 29% and the ten next-biggest home towns 10%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Tyler’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tyler is better than 49% of U.S. towns, #301 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Tyler’s grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tyler could be anywhere from C+ to B.
In and out of Tyler on a workday
On a workday 21,091 residents head out to work and 21,866 work right here.
About 147,000 people are in Tyler on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 20 minutes each way for Tyler’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tyler workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 47,232 commuters (the 8% 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.
Where the people who work in Tyler live
Where Tyler clocks in
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 Tyler’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tyler, 2013 → 2023: 69,358 → 76,299. 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 Tyler’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Tyler
About 27% 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.
Most trips from Tyler start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tyler is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #174 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 51,274 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). 6.3% of Tyler households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Tyler’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
For jobs and income, Tyler is 236th of 365 U.S. towns of 80,000 to 154,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Pearland TX | 129,930 | $119K | 4.1% | 3.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Allen TX | 113,447 | $131K | 6.1% | 3.7% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Sugar Land TX | 107,726 | $136K | 5.5% | 4.1% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 234 | Indio CA | 94,269 | $77K | 11.5% | 4.8% | 16% | B− |
| 235 | Lowell MA | 119,971 | $79K | 16.9% | 5.7% | 19% | B− |
| 236 | Tyler TX | 113,723 | $67K | 12.5% | 4.5% | 51% | B− |
| 237 | Westminster CA | 88,966 | $86K | 14.4% | 7.2% | 7% | B− |
| 238 | Pasco WA | 82,848 | $86K | 12.6% | 5.3% | 24% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 365 | Lawton OK | 90,503 | $54K | 21.1% | 8.1% | 55% | 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 Tyler, 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 Tyler: questions
What is the median household income in Tyler?
$67,486 (±$3,344) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tyler?
12.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tyler?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tyler work?
51% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (3%, 91 mi), Longview (3%, 35 mi), Houston (2%, 175 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tyler walkable?
Tyler is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tyler without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tyler, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tyler
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.