Households in Buna have lower incomes than those in 81% of U.S. towns
28.0% of residents are in poverty, against 13.8% across Texas. Buna grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. 1% of workers have no commute at all, where Texas as a whole has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Buna
Buna workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 44 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas. Over a year that’s about 337 hours of commuting, 130 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Buna’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Buna is Beaumont, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (123) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Buna has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Buna went from 555 in 2013 to 1,018 in 2023, +83%. The jobs ↓
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 760 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Buna’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Buna is better than 9% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Buna’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (8.9%) is left out: Buna’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, Buna could be anywhere from D− to C+.
A commute of about 44 minutes in Buna
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buna workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 776 commuters (the 1% 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.
The distance from Buna to work
About 31% 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.
What work there is in Buna: 1,018 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buna, 2013 → 2023: 555 → 1,018. 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 Buna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Buna
On a workday 662 residents head out to work, 98 work right here, and 920 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Buna on a workday afternoon, 11% 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.
16% of working residents work in Beaumont
Where Buna clocks in
16% 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.
In Buna, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buna is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% of 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 782 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). 2.7% of Buna households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buna’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000, Buna comes 4,464th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Bartonville TX | 1,937 | $149K | 4.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,462 | Anson TX | 2,570 | $48K | 28.1% | 5.7% | 25% | D |
| 4,463 | Beaver Creek Township MI | 1,628 | $61K | 17.7% | 6.4% | 8% | D |
| 4,464 | Buna TX | 2,249 | $55K | 28.0% | 8.9% | 13% | D |
| 4,465 | Midland City AL | 2,298 | $28K | 30.6% | 0.9% | 3% | D |
| 4,466 | Vevay IN | 1,760 | $46K | 13.6% | 9.2% | 11% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Buna, 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 Buna: questions
What is the median household income in Buna?
$55,000 (±$36,290) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buna?
28.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buna?
44 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buna work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaumont (16%, 27 mi), Houston (5%, 97 mi), Evadale (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buna walkable?
Buna is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buna without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buna
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.