Work & commute · Alton

Work & commute in Alton, TX

Most working residents leave Alton for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are McAllen (24%), Mission (18%) and Edinburg (11%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

109 of 5,841 working residents

Typical commute

8 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

12%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 5,732 Alton residents head out of town to work, 109 work right here, and 1,101 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Alton.

5,732live here, work elsewhere

109live and work here

1,101work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Alton goes to work

McAllen6 mi away

24%1,405

Mission5.9 mi away

18%1,047

Edinburg9.9 mi away

11%655

Pharr11.3 mi away

6%324

Houston300.2 mi away

2%130

La Joya10.4 mi away

2%124

Alton (in town)right here

2%109

San Antonio219.7 mi away

2%109

Harlingen38.6 mi away

2%92

Corpus Christi123.1 mi away

2%90

Everywhere elseother towns and states

30%1,756

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Alton commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

63%

12%

22%

63%Under 10 mi

12%10–24 mi

3%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Alton is a commuter town

0.21jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.21 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Alton are

1,210 jobs are based in Alton. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Alton’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Alton

1,210 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month50%

Over $3,333 a month30%

Jobs Alton residents hold

5,841 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month42%

+55%

Jobs based in Alton, 2013 → 2023: 781 → 1,210. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.