Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0At 7.2%, unemployment in Bastrop is higher than in 84% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Bastrop are B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in seven work in Bastrop; the top destination outside it is Austin (36%, 28 miles). Commuters spend 30 minutes getting to work on average; Texas averages 27, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bastrop at work: what stands out
Bastrop draws workers from far and wide
The 8,074 jobs in Bastrop are filled from a wide area. Bastrop’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 70% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Bastrop is where the jobs are
Bastrop has 8,074 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
36% of Bastrop works in Austin
1,860 working residents, 36%, have their main job in Austin, 29 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Bastrop itself. The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Bastrop’s workers comes from Austin
525 of the people who work in Bastrop live in Austin, 29 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Bastrop has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Bastrop went from 5,512 in 2013 to 8,074 in 2023, +46%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Bastrop earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bastrop is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #277 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Bastrop’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bastrop could be anywhere from C to A−.
Where Bastrop’s workforce comes from
Where Bastrop clocks in
36% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
How a workday changes Bastrop
On a workday 4,406 residents head out to work, 794 work right here, and 7,280 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Bastrop on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What the 8,074 jobs in Bastrop are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bastrop, 2013 → 2023: 5,512 → 8,074. 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 Bastrop’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Bastrop, about 30 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bastrop workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,278 commuters (the 11% 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.
The distance from Bastrop to work
About 26% 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.
In Bastrop, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bastrop is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #53 of 642 in Texas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,926 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.1% of Bastrop households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bastrop’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000, Bastrop ranks 1,451st of 2,526 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Lantana TX | 12,766 | $199K | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,449 | Spring Valley Lake CA | 9,483 | $83K | 7.3% | 5.0% | 2% | B− |
| 1,450 | Quakertown PA | 9,235 | $86K | 10.2% | 7.2% | 7% | B− |
| 1,451 | Bastrop TX | 13,383 | $82K | 7.2% | 7.2% | 15% | B− |
| 1,452 | Los Osos CA | 14,166 | $109K | 8.1% | 5.1% | 11% | B− |
| 1,453 | Doctor Phillips FL | 12,984 | $104K | 12.0% | 10.3% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Bastrop, 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 Bastrop: questions
What is the median household income in Bastrop?
$81,551 (±$19,630) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bastrop?
7.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bastrop?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bastrop work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (36%, 28 mi), Houston (3%, 118 mi), San Antonio (3%, 85 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bastrop walkable?
Bastrop is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bastrop without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bastrop, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bastrop
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.