Photo: Djmaschek · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Wharton are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns
5% of workers have no commute at all (Texas 14%). The poverty rate is 11.9% (Texas 13.8%). Jobs and income earn Wharton C; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Wharton stands out on work
Wharton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Wharton is Houston, 54 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (951) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Wharton trades workers with the towns around it
Wharton has about as many jobs (3,807) as working residents (4,330), but they are mostly different people: 3,696 residents leave for work each day while 3,173 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Wharton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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 ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Wharton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wharton is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #463 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Wharton’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($58,212, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wharton could be anywhere from D to B.
Half of Wharton commutes less than 42 miles
About 39% 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.
How a workday changes Wharton
On a workday 3,696 residents head out to work, 634 work right here, and 3,173 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 (0.88 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.
22% of working residents work in Houston
Where Wharton clocks in
22% of workers
4% 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 the 3,807 jobs in Wharton are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wharton, 2013 → 2023: 3,938 → 3,807. 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 Wharton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Wharton spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wharton workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,774 commuters (the 5% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Wharton
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wharton is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #43 of 642 in Texas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,971 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). 11.2% of Wharton households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Wharton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Wharton is 2,370th among 2,927 U.S. towns of 6,100 to 11,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Alamo Heights TX | 7,632 | $183K | 2.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Oak Point TX | 6,909 | $126K | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,368 | Camden SC | 9,201 | $64K | 13.2% | 8.2% | 17% | C |
| 2,369 | Chickasaw AL | 6,166 | $47K | 28.0% | 4.6% | 3% | C |
| 2,370 | Wharton TX | 8,776 | $58K | 11.9% | 6.2% | 15% | C |
| 2,371 | Gladewater TX | 6,306 | $59K | 22.5% | 5.0% | 8% | C |
| 2,372 | Deerpark NY | 7,433 | $73K | 10.2% | 8.4% | 13% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,927 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Wharton, 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 Wharton: questions
What is the median household income in Wharton?
$58,212 (±$8,485) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wharton?
11.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wharton?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wharton work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (22%, 54 mi), Rosenberg (5%, 23 mi), El Campo (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wharton walkable?
Wharton is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wharton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wharton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wharton
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.