Winters has lower household incomes than 89% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 19.0%; Texas has 13.8%. Winters grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. 5% of workers work from home, next to 14% for Texas as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Winters, in brief
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Winters than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Winters fell from 661 in 2013 to 489 in 2023, −26%. 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.
Inside Winters’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Winters is better than 15% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Winters’ grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($48,590, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winters could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Where in the region Winters works
About 34% 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.
Inside Winters’ 489 jobs
489 jobs are based in Winters.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winters, 2013 → 2023: 661 → 489. 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 Winters’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Winters on a workday afternoon
On a workday 818 residents head out to work, 209 work right here, and 280 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Winters on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
0.48 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 Ballinger
Where Winters clocks in
12% of workers
12% 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.
From Winters, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winters workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 974 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.
Driving is how Winters gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Winters is more walkable than 26% 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 1,021 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). 6.7% of Winters households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Winters’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Winters is 4,281st among 5,328 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Bartonville TX | 1,937 | $149K | 4.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,279 | Darien GA | 1,807 | $57K | 14.4% | 3.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,280 | Cajah's Mountain NC | 2,702 | $53K | 13.9% | 9.1% | 1% | D |
| 4,281 | Winters TX | 2,263 | $49K | 19.0% | 3.7% | 20% | D |
| 4,282 | Union Township IN | 2,421 | $57K | 25.3% | 5.6% | 2% | D |
| 4,283 | Rayne Township PA | 2,738 | $61K | 16.4% | 7.0% | 6% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | 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 Winters, 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 Winters: questions
What is the median household income in Winters?
$48,590 (±$6,444) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winters?
19.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winters?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winters work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ballinger (12%, 14 mi), Abilene (12%, 37 mi), San Angelo (6%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winters walkable?
Winters is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winters without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Winters, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winters
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.