Photo: Wrbalusek · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Jasper earn less than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 26.9% of residents, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Jasper grades D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, next to 14% for Texas as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Jasper in brief
A big share show a job far from home
47% 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 ↓
Jasper is where the jobs are
Jasper has 3,652 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Jasper 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Jasper than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Jasper fell from 5,046 in 2013 to 3,652 in 2023, −28%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Jasper are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. 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.
Why Jasper gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jasper is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #632 of 642 in Texas. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Jasper’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jasper could be anywhere from D− to D.
Half of Jasper commutes less than 47 miles
About 47% 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.
In and out of Jasper on a workday
On a workday 1,604 residents head out to work, 763 work right here, and 2,889 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,800 people are in Jasper on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Texas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jasper workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,487 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.
What Jasper’s employers do
3,652 jobs are based in Jasper.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jasper, 2013 → 2023: 5,046 → 3,652. 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 Jasper’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Jasper: where workers come from
Where Jasper clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
The commute in Jasper is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jasper is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #102 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Jasper 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 2,552 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). 13.0% of Jasper households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Jasper’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 5,300 to 10,100, and where Jasper sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Alamo Heights TX | 7,632 | $183K | 2.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Oak Point TX | 6,909 | $126K | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,005 | Tallulah LA | 5,517 | $33K | 41.7% | 7.1% | 37% | D− |
| 3,006 | Swainsboro GA | 7,436 | $50K | 29.0% | 13.8% | 28% | D− |
| 3,007 | Jasper TX | 7,511 | $45K | 26.9% | 9.3% | 32% | D− |
| 3,008 | Crockett TX | 6,346 | $39K | 22.1% | 8.3% | 26% | D− |
| 3,009 | Lucerne Valley CA | 5,957 | $55K | 21.9% | 18.6% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,027 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Jasper, 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 Jasper: questions
What is the median household income in Jasper?
$45,078 (±$7,031) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jasper?
26.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jasper?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jasper work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaumont (7%, 59 mi), Houston (6%, 114 mi), Lufkin (5%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jasper walkable?
Jasper is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jasper without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jasper, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jasper
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.