Photo: Aggie0083 at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.039% of College Station’s residents are college students
For jobs and income College Station is better than 60% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (A−). Working residents average 17 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26). 52,803 jobs are based in College Station for 42,465 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in College Station: the figures worth knowing
Commutes from College Station are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
College Station and Bryan trade workers both ways
Bryan is the top workplace for College Station residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in College Station come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A young workforce
33% of College Station’s working residents are 29 or younger, about one in three. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
Many jobs in College Station pay little
26% of the jobs based in College Station pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 39% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
College Station’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds College Station’s grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.8%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on family income.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (32% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 11.8%, against 29.2% for all residents. Unemployment (5.1%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($94,629), since student households pull the household median down ($50,900).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, College Station could be anywhere from B− to B+.
How long College Station spends getting to work: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of College Station workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 52,645 commuters (the 12% 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.
16% of working residents work in Bryan
Where College Station clocks in
16% of workers
7% of workers
3% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in College Station, 2014 → 2024: 48,402 → 52,803. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs College Station’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far College Station goes to work
About 35% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Who works in College Station, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 27,715 residents head out to work, 14,750 work right here, and 38,053 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 (1.24 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
College Station is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 59,991 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). 6.6% of College Station households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of College Station’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
College Station is 162nd of 316 U.S. towns of 89,000 to 172,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 22% | A+ |
| 2 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 22% | A+ |
| 3 | Franklin TN | 90,226 | $120K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 30% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Pearland TX | 129,930 | $119K | 4.1% | 3.3% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Allen TX | 113,447 | $131K | 6.1% | 3.7% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Sugar Land TX | 107,726 | $136K | 5.5% | 4.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 160 | Sunrise FL | 98,846 | $78K | 10.7% | 5.4% | 14% | B |
| 161 | Cedar Rapids IA | 137,935 | $70K | 10.8% | 3.6% | 55% | B |
| 162 | College Station TX | 127,472 | $51K | 29.2% | 5.1% | 35% | B |
| 163 | Billings MT | 121,239 | $74K | 9.8% | 3.5% | 73% | B |
| 164 | Garden Grove CA | 170,455 | $92K | 12.3% | 6.0% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 316 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 52% | 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 College Station, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Work next door: 16% of College Station’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | College Station workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| College Station | – | B | A− | 17 min | $50,900 |
| Bryan | 16% | C | B | 19 min | $59,289 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Bryan. Darker towns draw more of College Station’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 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Students. 39% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in College Station: questions
What is the median household income in College Station?
$50,900 (±$2,400) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in College Station?
29.2% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 11.8%. Texas: 13.8%.
How long is the commute from College Station?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in College Station work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bryan (16%, 8 mi), Houston (7%, 77 mi), Austin (3%, 89 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is College Station walkable?
College Station is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around College Station without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from College Station, from the people who make the trip.
More of College Station
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.