Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Households in Luling earn less than those in 81% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 10.0% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. For jobs and income Luling is better than 45% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (B+). 6% of workers have no commute at all, 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
Work in Luling, in a few figures
Luling’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Luling is Austin, 43 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (433) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Luling
Unemployment holds Luling’s grade up (2.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($54,818, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Luling could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Where in the region Luling works
About 31% 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.
Luling by day and by night
On a workday 2,258 residents head out to work, 384 work right here, and 1,386 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Luling on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
16% of working residents work in Austin
Where Luling clocks in
16% of workers
7% 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.
Jobs in Luling: what the 1,770 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Luling, 2013 → 2023: 2,321 → 1,770. 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 Luling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Luling: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Luling workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,548 commuters (the 6% 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.
In Luling, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% 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 2,709 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). 10.3% of Luling households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Luling’s commuters take a bus or train.
Luling next to U.S. towns of 4,100 to 8,000: 2,096th of 3,494 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,094 | Brookhaven WV | 6,212 | $88K | 10.5% | 7.0% | 2% | B− |
| 2,095 | Bella Vista CA | 4,511 | $91K | 6.0% | 8.5% | 3% | B− |
| 2,096 | Luling TX | 5,920 | $55K | 10.0% | 2.7% | 15% | B− |
| 2,097 | Belmont NH | 7,408 | $69K | 10.3% | 3.3% | 8% | B− |
| 2,098 | Belfast ME | 6,988 | $68K | 16.0% | 0.6% | 46% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,494 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Luling, 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 Luling: questions
What is the median household income in Luling?
$54,818 (±$8,206) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Luling?
10.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Luling?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Luling work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Austin (16%, 43 mi), San Marcos (7%, 22 mi), Seguin (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Luling walkable?
Luling is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Luling without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Luling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Luling
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.