Photo: Zorin09 · CC BY 3.0About two in three of Wolfforth’s working residents commute to Lubbock
Jobs & income B+: better than 75% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #168 of 642 in Texas.
Walkability C−: more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns · #549 of 642 in Texas.
Household incomes here are higher than in 81% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 17 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Wolfforth; the top destination outside it is Lubbock (66%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Wolfforth
More than half of Wolfforth works in Lubbock
1,898 working residents, 66%, have their main job in Lubbock, 7.7 miles away. That’s 8 times as many as work in Wolfforth itself. The commute map ↓
Wolfforth trades workers with the towns around it
Wolfforth has about as many jobs (2,976) as working residents (2,883), but they are mostly different people: 2,641 residents leave for work each day while 2,734 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Wolfforth are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Wolfforth 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 ↓
Most Wolfforth residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Wolfforth has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Wolfforth went from 1,975 in 2013 to 2,976 in 2023, +51%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Wolfforth’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wolfforth is better than 75% of U.S. towns, #168 of 642 in Texas. Household income holds Wolfforth’s grade up ($106,250, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wolfforth could be anywhere from B− to A+.
66% of working residents work in Lubbock
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Wolfforth clocks in
1% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 2,641 residents head out to work, 242 work right here, and 2,734 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 (1.03 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.
About 17 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 Wolfforth workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,898 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Wolfforth commutes less than 8 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 17% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
2,976 jobs are based in Wolfforth. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wolfforth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wolfforth, 2013 → 2023: 1,975 → 2,976. 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 Wolfforth start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wolfforth is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns, #549 of 642 in Texas. 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 3,239 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). 1.0% of Wolfforth households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wolfforth’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wolfforth is 971st of 2,927 U.S. towns of 6,100 to 11,800 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Wolfforth, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 969 | Union Township NJ | 6,649 | $138K | 4.0% | 7.9% | 4% | A− |
| 970 | Lehigh Township PA | 10,936 | $90K | 4.2% | 4.5% | 5% | A− |
| 971 | Wolfforth TX | 8,746 | $106K | 5.9% | 5.2% | 8% | B+ |
| 972 | West Cocalico Township PA | 7,607 | $96K | 12.5% | 2.1% | 6% | B+ |
| 973 | Upper Hanover Township PA | 8,741 | $112K | 5.0% | 6.1% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 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.
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 Wolfforth: questions
What is the median household income in Wolfforth?
$106,250 (±$29,427) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wolfforth?
5.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wolfforth?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wolfforth work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lubbock (66%, 8 mi), Dallas (1%, 307 mi), Midland (1%, 103 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wolfforth walkable?
Wolfforth is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wolfforth without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wolfforth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wolfforth
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.