Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Where Eagle Lake earns its living
About one in ten work in Eagle Lake itself; outside it, Houston draws the most (19%, 58 miles). Eagle Lake grades C for jobs and income and A for walkability. For 3% of workers, the job is at home; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Eagle Lake, in a few figures
Eagle Lake’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Eagle Lake is Houston, 58 miles away as the crow flies. 19% of working residents (295) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Eagle Lake has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Eagle Lake went from 569 in 2013 to 983 in 2023, +73%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
Few Eagle Lake 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 ↓
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.
Why Eagle Lake gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Eagle Lake is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #426 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Eagle Lake’s grade up (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Eagle Lake could be anywhere from D to B+.
Half of Eagle Lake commutes less than 38 miles
About 41% 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.
The 983 jobs based in Eagle Lake
983 jobs are based in Eagle Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Eagle Lake, 2013 → 2023: 569 → 983. 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 Eagle Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes each way for Eagle Lake’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Eagle Lake workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,610 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Eagle Lake
On a workday 1,446 residents head out to work, 142 work right here, and 841 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Eagle Lake on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Eagle Lake’s working residents head each day
Where Eagle Lake clocks in
19% of workers
6% 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.
Eagle Lake is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Eagle Lake is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #17 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Eagle Lake 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 1,660 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). 2.6% of Eagle Lake households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Eagle Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Eagle Lake places 3,107th of 4,355 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,105 | Arcade NY | 4,193 | $62K | 11.4% | 3.5% | 22% | C |
| 3,106 | Yerington NV | 3,227 | $58K | 11.9% | 2.7% | 38% | C |
| 3,107 | Eagle Lake TX | 3,546 | $69K | 14.1% | 4.5% | 9% | C |
| 3,108 | Garland UT | 2,915 | $74K | 13.5% | 5.5% | 3% | C |
| 3,109 | Benzonia Township MI | 2,816 | $73K | 15.5% | 3.5% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Eagle Lake, 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 Eagle Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Eagle Lake?
$69,205 (±$24,527) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Eagle Lake?
14.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Eagle Lake?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Eagle Lake work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (19%, 58 mi), Columbus (6%, 16 mi), Sheridan (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Eagle Lake walkable?
Eagle Lake is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Eagle Lake 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 Eagle Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Eagle Lake
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.