Household incomes in Wheeler trail those of 79% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Wheeler D; getting around on foot earns it C+. Poverty touches 18.0% of residents, next to 13.8% for Texas as a whole. Home is the office for 2% of workers, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Wheeler apart on work
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 Wheeler are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Wheeler than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Wheeler fell from 629 in 2013 to 394 in 2023, −37%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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 426 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Wheeler
On income, poverty and job access, Wheeler is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Wheeler’s grade up ($56,346, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.3%) is left out: Wheeler’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, Wheeler could be anywhere from D− to C.
Wheeler’s commute, mile by mile
About 35% 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.
Time on the road from Wheeler: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wheeler workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 606 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.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Jobs in Wheeler: what the 394 are
394 jobs are based in Wheeler.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wheeler, 2013 → 2023: 629 → 394. 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 Wheeler’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Wheeler, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 313 residents head out to work, 113 work right here, and 281 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 (0.92 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.
7% of working residents work in Amarillo
Where Wheeler clocks in
7% 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.
Few in Wheeler walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wheeler is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.2% 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 617 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). 0.0% of Wheeler households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wheeler’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wheeler is 5,215th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 31 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,213 | McCaysville GA | 1,180 | $53K | 16.2% | 0.3% | 3% | D |
| 5,214 | Fairland OK | 1,100 | $43K | 15.0% | 5.0% | 4% | D |
| 5,215 | Wheeler TX | 1,431 | $56K | 18.0% | 4.3% | 27% | D |
| 5,216 | Stuart VA | 1,409 | $46K | 20.1% | 6.1% | 19% | D |
| 5,217 | New Haven WV | 1,385 | $56K | 19.6% | 0.3% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Wheeler, 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 Wheeler: questions
What is the median household income in Wheeler?
$56,346 (±$18,274) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wheeler?
18.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wheeler?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wheeler work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amarillo (7%, 89 mi), Pampa (4%, 40 mi), Lubbock (3%, 159 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wheeler walkable?
Wheeler is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wheeler without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wheeler, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wheeler
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.