Work & commute · Mercedes

Work & commute in Mercedes, TX

Most working residents leave Mercedes for work: only 12% work in town. The top destinations are Weslaco (16%), McAllen (11%) and Harlingen (10%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

12%

716 of 5,845 working residents

Typical commute

16 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

10%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 5,129 Mercedes residents head out of town to work, 716 work right here, and 4,047 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Mercedes.

5,129live here, work elsewhere

716live and work here

4,047work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Mercedes goes to work

Weslaco4.7 mi away

16%949

Mercedes (in town)right here

12%716

McAllen21.2 mi away

11%632

Harlingen13.6 mi away

10%573

Edinburg18.8 mi away

6%372

Pharr17.4 mi away

5%264

Brownsville29.1 mi away

3%152

Mission25.8 mi away

2%142

Donna7.5 mi away

2%134

Houston294.4 mi away

2%123

Everywhere elseother towns and states

31%1,788

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

How far

How far Mercedes commutes

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

37%

39%

19%

37%Under 10 mi

39%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Mercedes is balanced between jobs and homes

0.81jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.81 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Mercedes are

4,763 jobs are based in Mercedes. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mercedes’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Mercedes

4,763 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities36%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month43%

Jobs Mercedes residents hold

5,845 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month41%

+3%

Jobs based in Mercedes, 2013 → 2023: 4,619 → 4,763. 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.