Photo: GeoffreyLong · CC BY-SA 3.0How Mason works: jobs, income and commuting
About two in five stay in Mason for work; outside it, Houston is the main destination (3%, 239 miles). Mason grades B− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. 4% of workers work from home; Texas has 14%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Mason in brief
A big share show a job far from home
45% 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 ↓
Mason has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Mason went from 606 in 2013 to 856 in 2023, +41%. The jobs ↓
Few Mason workers work from home
Only 4% 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; with 612 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Mason’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mason is better than 46% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Mason’s grade up (4.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (6.1%) is left out: Mason’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mason could be anywhere from C to B.
How far Mason goes to work
About 45% 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.
Inside Mason’s 856 jobs
856 jobs are based in Mason.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mason, 2013 → 2023: 606 → 856. 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 Mason’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes to work from Mason
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mason workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 586 commuters (the 4% 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 daily commute in and out of Mason
On a workday 364 residents head out to work, 248 work right here, and 608 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Mason on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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.
Where Mason goes to work
Where Mason clocks in
3% 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.
In Mason, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mason is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 612 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). 3.9% of Mason households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mason’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mason ranks: 2,503rd of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 2% | A+ |
| 24 | Shoreacres TX | 1,535 | $131K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,501 | Honeoye Falls NY | 2,841 | $82K | 10.3% | 11.0% | 13% | B− |
| 2,502 | East McKeesport PA | 1,969 | $66K | 9.5% | 8.0% | 2% | B− |
| 2,503 | Mason TX | 2,171 | $75K | 4.0% | 6.1% | 41% | B− |
| 2,504 | Whetstone Township OH | 1,975 | $67K | 7.6% | 7.2% | 1% | B− |
| 2,505 | Byron CA | 1,837 | $76K | 15.4% | 18.2% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Mason, 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 Mason: questions
What is the median household income in Mason?
$75,385 (±$5,610) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mason?
4.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mason?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mason work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (3%, 239 mi), Lubbock (3%, 249 mi), Dallas (2%, 202 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mason walkable?
Mason is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mason without a car?
0% 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 Mason, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mason
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.