Photo: Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Lockhart (2.3%) than in 80% of U.S. towns
Lockhart grades B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in seven work in Lockhart itself; outside it, Austin draws the most (29%, 29 miles). The average commute takes 29 minutes each way (Texas 27, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lockhart and work: the main findings
Inside Lockhart’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lockhart is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #249 of 642 in Texas. Unemployment holds Lockhart’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (13.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lockhart could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Where people from Lockhart work
Where Lockhart clocks in
29% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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 daily commute in and out of Lockhart
On a workday 5,777 residents head out to work, 1,155 work right here, and 3,348 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Lockhart on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.65 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.
Inside Lockhart’s 4,503 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lockhart, 2013 → 2023: 3,582 → 4,503. 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 Lockhart’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Lockhart: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lockhart workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,173 commuters (the 10% 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 Lockhart to work
About 26% 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 Lockhart, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lockhart is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns, #413 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 6,882 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). 2.3% of Lockhart households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lockhart’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Lockhart is 1,044th of 1,915 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Rendon TX | 14,632 | $118K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,042 | Brown Township IN | 14,348 | $70K | 12.9% | 3.2% | 13% | B |
| 1,043 | Rosedale MD | 20,002 | $86K | 10.1% | 6.4% | 3% | B |
| 1,044 | Lockhart TX | 18,159 | $68K | 13.0% | 2.3% | 17% | B |
| 1,045 | Fruitport Township MI | 15,666 | $85K | 11.4% | 4.2% | 7% | B |
| 1,046 | Lemay MO | 16,228 | $60K | 14.7% | 2.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Lockhart, 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 Lockhart: questions
What is the median household income in Lockhart?
$68,400 (±$11,397) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lockhart?
13.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lockhart?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lockhart work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (29%, 29 mi), San Marcos (6%, 15 mi), Houston (4%, 138 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lockhart walkable?
Lockhart is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lockhart without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lockhart, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lockhart
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.