Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Buda has higher household incomes than 90% of U.S. towns
6.0% of residents are in poverty, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. The two grades for Buda are A for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 5% stay in Buda for work; outside it, Austin is the main destination (50%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Buda in brief
Jobs in Buda have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Buda went from 4,157 in 2013 to 10,320 in 2023, +148%. The jobs ↓
More than half of Buda works in Austin
3,853 working residents, 50%, have their main job in Austin, 17 miles away across the town line. That’s 10 times as many as work in Buda itself. The commute map ↓
Buda draws workers from far and wide
The 10,320 jobs in Buda are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 37%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Buda
Household income is its strongest input ($123,766, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Buda could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
The kinds of work in Buda
10,320 jobs are based in Buda.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buda, 2013 → 2023: 4,157 → 10,320. 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 Buda’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Buda’s working residents head each day
Where Buda clocks in
50% of workers
4% 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.
Who works in Buda, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 7,308 residents head out to work, 379 work right here, and 9,941 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Buda on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 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 29 minutes each way, longer than most of Texas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buda workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,978 commuters (the 21% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Buda
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.
Driving is how Buda gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buda is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns, #525 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 8,861 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). 1.4% of Buda households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buda’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,220 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 22,000, Buda comes 378th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 4 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Lantana TX | 12,766 | $199K | 0.6% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 376 | Andover KS | 17,370 | $105K | 4.6% | 2.7% | 9% | A |
| 377 | Pompton Lakes NJ | 11,246 | $124K | 8.4% | 3.1% | 5% | A |
| 378 | Buda TX | 16,166 | $124K | 6.0% | 3.4% | 5% | A |
| 379 | Salisbury Township PA | 11,598 | $93K | 5.3% | 0.4% | 15% | A |
| 380 | South Park Township PA | 13,613 | $101K | 3.8% | 3.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,220 | 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 Buda, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
The towns next door employ 52% of Buda
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Austin. Darker towns draw more of Buda’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 Buda: questions
What is the median household income in Buda?
$123,766 (±$7,555) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buda?
6.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buda?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buda work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (50%, 16 mi), San Antonio (4%, 58 mi), San Marcos (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buda walkable?
Buda is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buda without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buda, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buda
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.