With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Ralls works elsewhere
4% of workers work from home (Texas 14%). 286 jobs are based in Ralls; 687 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Ralls is better than 18% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Ralls
Ralls and Lubbock trade workers both ways
Lubbock is the top workplace for Ralls residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Ralls come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 ↓
Few Ralls 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 687 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Ralls’ Jobs & income grade comes from
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ralls’ grade.
Unemployment (12.1%) is left out: Ralls’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, Ralls could be anywhere from D to C+.
34% of working residents work in Lubbock
Where Ralls clocks in
3% of workers
2% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Ralls
About 30% 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.
Ralls’ commute takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ralls workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 705 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.
Ralls by day and by night
On a workday 604 residents head out to work, 83 work right here, and 203 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Ralls on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
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 kinds of work in Ralls
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ralls, 2013 → 2023: 336 → 286. 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 Ralls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Ralls commutes by car
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 733 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). 6.9% of Ralls households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ralls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100, Ralls ranks 4,158th of 5,794 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 28 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,156 | Smith Center KS | 1,575 | $56K | 8.4% | 0.5% | 51% | C− |
| 4,157 | St. Francisville LA | 1,484 | $57K | 27.0% | 5.8% | 19% | C− |
| 4,158 | Ralls TX | 1,556 | $58K | 15.7% | 12.1% | 12% | C− |
| 4,159 | Greenway Township MN | 1,794 | $66K | 12.6% | 5.9% | 5% | C− |
| 4,160 | Liberty Township OH | 1,788 | $65K | 13.1% | 7.7% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Ralls, 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 Ralls: questions
What is the median household income in Ralls?
$57,697 (±$9,410) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ralls?
15.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ralls?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ralls work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lubbock (34%, 30 mi), Amarillo (3%, 108 mi), Crosbyton (2%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ralls walkable?
Ralls is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ralls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ralls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ralls
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.