Photo: Rmckee8 · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Orange (7.7%) than in 87% of U.S. towns
Orange grades C− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, where Texas as a whole has 14%. About one in five work in Orange itself; outside it, Beaumont draws the most (14%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Orange, in brief
Orange trades workers with the towns around it
Orange has about as many jobs (7,261) as working residents (7,528), but they are mostly different people: 6,135 residents leave for work each day while 5,868 people come in. Only 19% of the jobs in Orange are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Orange’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Orange is Beaumont, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (1,025) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Orange 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 ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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.
Why Orange gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Orange is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #473 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Orange’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Orange could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who commutes out of Orange, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,135 residents head out to work, 1,393 work right here, and 5,868 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.96 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.
The commute from Orange, by distance
About 36% 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.
About 23 minutes to work from Orange
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orange workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,275 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.
Where Orange goes to work
Where Orange clocks in
14% of workers
9% 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.
What Orange’s employers do
7,261 jobs are based in Orange.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orange, 2013 → 2023: 7,671 → 7,261. 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 Orange’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Orange, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Orange is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns, #406 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 7,524 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). 7.8% of Orange households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Orange’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 14,000 to 26,000, Orange ranks 1,498th of 1,760 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Colleyville TX | 25,727 | $218K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Corinth TX | 25,297 | $121K | 3.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Bellaire TX | 17,434 | $244K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,496 | Cudahy CA | 21,445 | $57K | 28.7% | 10.1% | 3% | C |
| 1,497 | Terrytown LA | 24,726 | $52K | 19.2% | 8.4% | 4% | C |
| 1,498 | Orange TX | 19,419 | $63K | 15.4% | 7.7% | 19% | C− |
| 1,499 | Windham CT | 24,139 | $56K | 20.7% | 5.8% | 23% | C− |
| 1,500 | Myrtle Grove FL | 15,595 | $68K | 17.7% | 8.2% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,760 | 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 Orange, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Orange and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Bridge City (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Orange workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | – | C− | C+ | 23 min | $62,891 |
| West Orange | 1% | C− | D | 20 min | $60,323 |
| Little Cypress | under 2% | B− | D | 29 min | $91,199 |
| Bridge City | 2% | B+ | B− | 24 min | $88,958 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Orange’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Orange: questions
What is the median household income in Orange?
$62,891 (±$6,462) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orange?
15.4%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orange?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orange work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaumont (14%, 24 mi), Houston (9%, 101 mi), Port Arthur (6%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Orange walkable?
Orange is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orange without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orange, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orange
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.