First Presbyterian Church · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Van Horn has 0.8 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income D: better than 5% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C−: more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 74% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 16 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). About one in three work in Van Horn; the top destination outside it is El Paso (5%, 109 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Van Horn, in brief
A big share show a job far from home
52% 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 ↓
Commutes from Van Horn are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Van Horn 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; with 712 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Van Horn’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Van Horn is better than 5% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Van Horn’s grade up ($59,707, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.4%) is left out: Van Horn’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Van Horn could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Half of Van Horn commutes less than 59 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 52% 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.
About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Van Horn workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 682 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 475 residents head out to work, 237 work right here, and 336 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 (0.80 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.
5% of working residents work in El Paso
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Van Horn clocks in
5% of workers
4% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 573 jobs in Van Horn are
573 jobs are based in Van Horn. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Van Horn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Horn, 2013 → 2023: 504 → 573. 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.
Most trips from Van Horn start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Van Horn is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.0% 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 697 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). 2.5% of Van Horn households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Van Horn’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Van Horn compares with U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Van Horn, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 22 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| 23 | Serenada TX | 1,444 | $155K | 1.5% | 2.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,059 | Butler AL | 1,698 | $47K | 16.5% | 1.8% | 23% | D |
| 5,060 | Hancock MD | 1,581 | $35K | 23.7% | 2.7% | 12% | D |
| 5,061 | Van Horn TX | 2,020 | $60K | 21.1% | 1.4% | 33% | D |
| 5,062 | Chase City VA | 2,054 | $46K | 17.1% | 0.5% | 8% | D |
| 5,063 | Jackson Township IN | 1,738 | $55K | 33.6% | 8.5% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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.
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 Van Horn: questions
What is the median household income in Van Horn?
$59,707 (±$16,329) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Horn?
21.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Horn?
16 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Van Horn work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are El Paso (5%, 109 mi), Midland (4%, 174 mi), Marfa (3%, 70 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Van Horn walkable?
Van Horn is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Van Horn without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Van Horn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Horn
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.