Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Work, pay and getting to work in Conroe
Conroe grades B for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in five work in Conroe itself; outside it, Houston draws the most (27%, 38 miles). The trip to work takes 29 minutes on average (Texas 27, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Conroe: the gist
Conroe’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Conroe is Houston, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 27% of working residents (11,270) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Conroe draws workers from far and wide
The 56,816 jobs in Conroe are filled from a wide area. Conroe’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 18%; the other 65% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Conroe has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Conroe went from 39,867 in 2013 to 56,816 in 2023, +43%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Conroe
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Conroe is better than 63% of U.S. towns, #235 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Conroe’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Conroe could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Conroe
About 18% 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.
Where Conroe goes to work
Where Conroe clocks in
27% of workers
7% 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 56,816 jobs based in Conroe
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Conroe, 2013 → 2023: 39,867 → 56,816. 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 Conroe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Conroe on a workday afternoon
On a workday 32,181 residents head out to work, 9,519 work right here, and 47,297 people come in from elsewhere.
About 135,000 people are in Conroe on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.36 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.
Commuting from Conroe: about 29 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Conroe workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 43,870 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.
The commute in Conroe is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Conroe is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #224 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Conroe 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 50,083 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). 4.4% of Conroe households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Conroe’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
For jobs and income, Conroe is 166th of 344 U.S. towns of 84,000 to 161,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Pearland TX | 129,930 | $119K | 4.1% | 3.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Allen TX | 113,447 | $131K | 6.1% | 3.7% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Sugar Land TX | 107,726 | $136K | 5.5% | 4.1% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 164 | Perry Township IN | 123,439 | $67K | 12.8% | 2.9% | 11% | B |
| 165 | Burbank CA | 102,988 | $97K | 10.7% | 7.4% | 25% | B |
| 166 | Conroe TX | 119,564 | $76K | 11.2% | 3.9% | 23% | B |
| 167 | Manteca CA | 96,693 | $97K | 9.5% | 5.8% | 12% | B |
| 168 | Sparks NV | 111,902 | $89K | 8.5% | 5.2% | 23% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 344 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Conroe, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Conroe and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to The Woodlands (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Conroe workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conroe | – | B | B | 29 min | $76,206 |
| The Woodlands | 7% | A | B+ | 27 min | $140,701 |
| Willis | 1% | C | B+ | 24 min | $68,632 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Conroe’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 Conroe: questions
What is the median household income in Conroe?
$76,206 (±$4,020) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Conroe?
11.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Conroe?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Conroe work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (27%, 38 mi), The Woodlands (7%, 11 mi), Austin (2%, 135 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Conroe walkable?
Conroe is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Conroe without a car?
<1% 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 Conroe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Conroe
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.