Work and commuting in Booker
Booker grades C− for jobs and income and D for walkability. 2% of workers have no commute at all, where Texas as a whole has 14%. About one in five work in Booker; the top destination outside it is Perryton (18%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Booker, in brief
Booker makes and builds things
68% of the jobs based in Booker are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Booker residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 38%. The jobs ↓
Booker and Perryton trade workers both ways
Perryton is the top workplace for Booker residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Booker come from (26% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% 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; with 382 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Booker
On income, poverty and job access, Booker is better than 15% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Booker’s grade up ($69,464, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.4%) is left out: Booker’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, Booker could be anywhere from D to C.
Booker works in goods: 68% of its jobs
551 jobs are based in Booker.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Booker, 2013 → 2023: 700 → 551. 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 Booker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Booker work
Where Booker clocks in
18% of workers
8% of workers
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.
Miles to work from Booker
About 40% 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 and out of Booker on a workday
On a workday 297 residents head out to work, 85 work right here, and 466 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Booker on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 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.
About 15 minutes to work from Booker
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Booker workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 517 commuters (the 2% 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.
Most of Booker commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Booker is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Booker 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 528 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). 1.5% of Booker households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Booker’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Booker ranks: 4,419th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 31 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,417 | Owenton KY | 1,690 | $55K | 14.9% | 6.8% | 9% | C− |
| 4,418 | Factoryville PA | 1,089 | $54K | 21.8% | 12.7% | 4% | C− |
| 4,419 | Booker TX | 1,379 | $69K | 15.1% | 5.4% | 22% | C− |
| 4,420 | Falls Township KS | 1,065 | $52K | 9.4% | 1.4% | 24% | C− |
| 4,421 | Perrysburg NY | 1,483 | $62K | 19.5% | 5.2% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Booker, 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 Booker: questions
What is the median household income in Booker?
$69,464 (±$7,069) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Booker?
15.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Booker?
15 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Booker work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Perryton (18%, 15 mi), Shamrock (8%, 87 mi), Amarillo (4%, 113 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Booker walkable?
Booker is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Booker without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Booker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Booker
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.