Photo: Nick81aku (Uploads) · Public domainAt 7.6%, unemployment in Brookshire is higher than in 86% of U.S. towns
For 3% of workers, the job is at home, where Texas as a whole has 14%. The two grades for Brookshire are C for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 7% stay in Brookshire for work; outside it, Houston is the main destination (32%, 34 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Brookshire stands out on work
Brookshire trades workers with the towns around it
Brookshire has about as many jobs (2,337) as working residents (2,167), but they are mostly different people: 2,017 residents leave for work each day while 2,187 people come in. Only 6% of the jobs in Brookshire are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Brookshire and Houston trade workers both ways
Houston is the top workplace for Brookshire residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Brookshire come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Brookshire workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Brookshire are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Brookshire
Job access by car holds Brookshire’s grade up (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brookshire could be anywhere from C− to A−.
How a workday changes Brookshire
On a workday 2,017 residents head out to work, 150 work right here, and 2,187 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.08 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.
Out of Brookshire to work: where people go
Where Brookshire clocks in
32% of workers
11% of workers
2% 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 daily trip from Brookshire: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brookshire workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,027 commuters (the 3% 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.
What work there is in Brookshire: 2,337 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brookshire, 2013 → 2023: 2,051 → 2,337. 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 Brookshire’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Brookshire’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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.
Most of Brookshire commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brookshire is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns, #516 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.0% across Texas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,094 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). 3.9% of Brookshire households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brookshire’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brookshire is 2,399th of 3,307 U.S. towns of 4,300 to 8,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,397 | Chadron NE | 4,975 | $55K | 13.2% | 1.8% | 58% | C |
| 2,398 | Farmville NC | 4,577 | $47K | 28.1% | 1.8% | 13% | C |
| 2,399 | Brookshire TX | 6,090 | $66K | 21.4% | 7.6% | 7% | C |
| 2,400 | Hamilton Township IN | 7,086 | $55K | 13.5% | 2.6% | 31% | C |
| 2,401 | Lansing Township MI | 8,060 | $48K | 19.1% | 5.0% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,307 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Brookshire, 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 Brookshire: questions
What is the median household income in Brookshire?
$65,934 (±$17,722) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brookshire?
21.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brookshire?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brookshire work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (32%, 34 mi), Katy (11%, 7 mi), Austin (2%, 114 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brookshire walkable?
Brookshire is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brookshire without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brookshire, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brookshire
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.