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Downtown AlbaPhoto: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 3.0
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Jobs & commute in Alba

Earning a living in Alba

Home is the office for 8% of workers, where Texas as a whole has 14%. Only 3% work in Alba itself; outside it, Dallas draws the most (7%, 66 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 34 minutes (Texas 27, U.S. 26).

Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made

Day and night

Alba by day and by night

On a workday 150 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 182 people come in from elsewhere.

150live here, work elsewhere
4live and work here
182work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night510
Workday540
510live here− 150head out to work+ 180come in to work= 540on a workday

About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.

Job hub or commuter town?
1.21jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (1.21 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.

The commute map

Where the trip to work from Alba ends

VinitaAlbaQuitman: 4 residents work here (3%)Grand SalinePointCantonMineola: 10 residents work here (6%)Sulphur Springs: 3 residents work here (2%)Paris: 4 residents work here (3%)Greenville: 4 residents work here (3%)Dallas: 11 residents work here (7%)Houston: 7 residents work here (5%)Longview: 5 residents work here (3%)GarlandTyler: 11 residents work here (7%)Holly Lake RanchDallasTylerMineolaHoustonLongviewQuitmanAlba
1
Dallas65.9 mi away
7%11
2
Tyler37.6 mi away
7%11
3
Mineola12.8 mi away
6%10
4
Houston207.8 mi away
5%7
5
Longview53.9 mi away
3%5
6
Alba (in town)right here
3%4
7
Quitman10.9 mi away
3%4
8
Paris61.2 mi away
3%4
9
Greenville35.7 mi away
3%4
10
Sulphur Springs24.6 mi away
2%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
59%91
The top trips

Where Alba clocks in

Lines 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 jobs

66% of the jobs in Alba make or build things

186 jobs are based in Alba.

Jobs based in AlbaJobs Alba residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms66%32%
Trade, transport & utilities16%26%
Services: health, schools, offices18%42%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less15%12%
$1,251–$3,333 a month26%25%
Over $3,333 a month59%63%

Who does it

29 or younger20%21%
30 to 5448%53%
55 and older32%26%
+22%

Jobs based in Alba, 2013 → 2023: 152 → 186. 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 Alba’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Time on the road

Time on the road from Alba: about 34 minutes

A year of commuting
259 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Alba34 min
Texas27 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
8%

of Alba workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How Alba gets to work
81%Drive alone
8%Carpool
10%Walk

Share of the 243 commuters (the 8% 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.

How far

The distance from Alba to work

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miDallas: 7% · 65.9 miTyler: 7% · 37.6 miMineola: 6% · 12.8 miHouston: 5% · 207.8 miLongview: 3% · 53.9 miQuitman: 3% · 10.9 miParis: 3% · 61.2 miGreenville: 3% · 35.7 miSulphur Springs: 2% · 24.6 miDallas 7%Tyler 7%Mineola 6%Houston 5%Alba
AlbaTop destinations (size = commuters)
9%Under 10 mi14 residents
18%10–24 mi28 residents
25%25–50 mi38 residents
48%Over 50 mi73 residents

About 48% 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.

How to read these numbers

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.

How these figures and grades are made →

Jobs and commuting in Alba: questions

What is the median household income in Alba?

$60,682 (±$34,555) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.

What is the poverty rate in Alba?

9.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).

How long is the commute from Alba?

34 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.

Where do people who live in Alba work?

3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (7%, 66 mi), Tyler (7%, 38 mi), Mineola (6%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).

Can you get around Alba without a car?

0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Alba, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Ask neighbors
Beyond the commute

More of Alba

Alba home →

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.