Photo: Sgt. 1st Class E. L. Craig · Public domainHouseholds in Beaumont have lower incomes than those in 78% of U.S. towns
21.2% of residents are in poverty, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. The two grades for Beaumont are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. For 4% of workers, the job is at home, next to 14% for Texas as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Beaumont in brief
Beaumont’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Beaumont is Houston, 77 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (4,766) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Beaumont are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Beaumont’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Beaumont is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #474 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Beaumont’s grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Beaumont could be anywhere from C− to C.
How far Beaumont goes to work
About 34% 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.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Beaumont workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 46,391 commuters (the 5% 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.
Beaumont by day and by night
On a workday 23,349 residents head out to work, 18,806 work right here, and 42,146 people come in from elsewhere.
About 132,000 people are in Beaumont on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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.
11% of working residents work in Houston
Where Beaumont clocks in
11% of workers
5% 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 Beaumont
60,952 jobs are based in Beaumont.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Beaumont, 2013 → 2023: 63,563 → 60,952. 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 Beaumont’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Beaumont is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Beaumont is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #208 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Beaumont near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 48,586 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.6% of Beaumont households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Beaumont’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Where Beaumont sits among U.S. towns of 79,000 to 153,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Flower Mound TX | 79,540 | $161K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Pearland TX | 129,930 | $119K | 4.1% | 3.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Allen TX | 113,447 | $131K | 6.1% | 3.7% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 342 | Peoria IL | 110,920 | $59K | 21.0% | 7.5% | 47% | C |
| 343 | Savannah GA | 149,440 | $57K | 19.7% | 7.2% | 51% | C |
| 344 | Beaumont TX | 112,967 | $57K | 21.2% | 6.4% | 45% | C− |
| 345 | Yakima WA | 97,458 | $63K | 16.6% | 8.4% | 49% | C− |
| 346 | Hesperia CA | 102,605 | $72K | 16.9% | 9.3% | 12% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 375 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Beaumont, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
The towns around Beaumont
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Beaumont workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaumont | – | C− | B | 20 min | $56,997 |
| Rose Hill Acres | under 1% | — | — | 37 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Rose Hill Acres: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Beaumont’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Beaumont: questions
What is the median household income in Beaumont?
$56,997 (±$2,708) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Beaumont?
21.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Beaumont?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Beaumont work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (11%, 77 mi), Port Arthur (5%, 20 mi), Nederland (2%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Beaumont walkable?
Beaumont is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Beaumont without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Beaumont, from the people who make the trip.
More of Beaumont
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.