Starks has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 51 jobs in Starks; 205 of its residents have a job. Only 2% stay in Starks for work; outside it, Lake Charles is the main destination (20%, 28 miles). 0% of workers work from home, next to 8% for Louisiana as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Starks and work: the main findings
Starks workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 47 minutes each way, against 26 across Louisiana. Over a year that’s about 360 hours of commuting, 161 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Starks’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Starks is Lake Charles, 28 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (42) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Starks is a place people come home to
There are 51 jobs based in Starks, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Starks has about 160 people in it, 49% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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; with 205 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Time on the road from Starks: about 47 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Starks workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 69 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% 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.
The distance from Starks to work
About 33% 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.
Starks on a workday afternoon
On a workday 201 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 47 people come in from elsewhere.
About 160 people are in Starks on a workday afternoon, 49% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Starks ends
Where Starks clocks in
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.
The kinds of work in Starks
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Starks, 2013 → 2023: 60 → 51. 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 Starks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Starks: questions
What is the median household income in Starks?
$16,088 (±$1,198) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Starks?
44.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Starks?
47 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Starks work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Charles (20%, 28 mi), Sulphur (6%, 19 mi), Baton Rouge (4%, 151 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Starks without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 35% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Starks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Starks
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.