Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 3.0How Blue Ridge works: jobs, income and commuting
Working residents average 35 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. The two grades for Blue Ridge are C+ for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 4% work in Blue Ridge; the top destination outside it is McKinney (16%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Blue Ridge
What’s behind Blue Ridge’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Blue Ridge is better than 43% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Blue Ridge’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Blue Ridge’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Blue Ridge could be anywhere from C to B+.
About 35 minutes to work from Blue Ridge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Ridge workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 535 commuters (the 9% 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.
Who leaves Blue Ridge for work, and who comes in
On a workday 538 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 309 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Blue Ridge on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.59 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Blue Ridge’s working residents head each day
Where Blue Ridge clocks in
16% 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.
65% of the jobs in Blue Ridge pay over $3,333 a month
334 jobs are based in Blue Ridge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Ridge, 2013 → 2023: 190 → 334. 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 Blue Ridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Blue Ridge goes to work
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.
Blue Ridge is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blue Ridge is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Blue Ridge 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 587 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). 2.1% of Blue Ridge households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Blue Ridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Blue Ridge is 2,007th among 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 27 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,005 | Marsing ID | 1,230 | $70K | 10.2% | 1.7% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,006 | Altamont KS | 1,053 | $65K | 4.5% | 1.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,007 | Blue Ridge TX | 1,265 | $77K | 20.6% | 2.8% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,008 | Convis Township MI | 1,534 | $71K | 12.0% | 0.9% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,009 | Rapid River Township MI | 1,301 | $72K | 4.9% | 1.3% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Blue Ridge, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Blue Ridge and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blue Ridge workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Ridge | – | C+ | D | 35 min | $77,333 |
| Anna | under 3% | A− | C− | 31 min | $105,593 |
| Farmersville | under 3% | B− | C | 31 min | $81,036 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Blue Ridge’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 Blue Ridge: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Ridge?
$77,333 (±$13,273) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Ridge?
20.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Ridge?
35 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Ridge work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McKinney (16%, 17 mi), Dallas (12%, 41 mi), Plano (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blue Ridge walkable?
Blue Ridge is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Ridge without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Ridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Ridge
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.