Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Yoakum earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 17.7%, against 13.8% across Texas. Jobs and income earn Yoakum C; getting around on foot earns it B. For 5% of workers, the job is at 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
Where Yoakum stands out on work
Yoakum’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Yoakum is Houston, 111 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (222) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Yoakum trades workers with the towns around it
Yoakum has about as many jobs (2,324) as working residents (2,594), but they are mostly different people: 1,885 residents leave for work each day while 1,615 people come in. Only 31% of the jobs in Yoakum are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
43% 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 Yoakum are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. 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.
Jobs & income in Yoakum: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Yoakum is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #422 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Yoakum’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($46,810, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Yoakum could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Near or far: the trip to work from Yoakum
About 43% 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.
Yoakum by day and by night
On a workday 1,885 residents head out to work, 709 work right here, and 1,615 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 (0.90 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.
Commuting from Yoakum: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Yoakum workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,525 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.
9% of working residents work in Houston
Where Yoakum clocks in
9% of workers
5% 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 2,324 jobs in Yoakum are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Yoakum, 2013 → 2023: 2,190 → 2,324. 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 Yoakum’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Yoakum is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Yoakum is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #198 of 642 in Texas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,650 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). 7.6% of Yoakum households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Yoakum’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Yoakum is 2,565th among 3,494 U.S. towns of 4,100 to 8,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,563 | Slaughterville OK | 4,332 | $73K | 13.7% | 6.3% | 2% | C |
| 2,564 | Dickson City PA | 5,976 | $60K | 13.1% | 7.7% | 7% | C |
| 2,565 | Yoakum TX | 5,900 | $47K | 17.7% | 0.0% | 27% | C |
| 2,566 | Tippecanoe Township IN | 6,630 | $72K | 9.4% | 9.1% | 9% | C |
| 2,567 | Thomson GA | 6,763 | $42K | 28.8% | 0.8% | 16% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,494 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Yoakum, 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 Yoakum: questions
What is the median household income in Yoakum?
$46,810 (±$13,191) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Yoakum?
17.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Yoakum?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Yoakum work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (9%, 111 mi), Victoria (5%, 34 mi), Austin (4%, 78 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Yoakum walkable?
Yoakum is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Yoakum without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Yoakum, from the people who make the trip.
More of Yoakum
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.