Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Making a living in Rising Star
For 6% of workers, the job is at home (Texas 14%). About one in seven stay in Rising Star for work; outside it, Brownwood is the main destination (6%, 27 miles). Working residents average 17 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
What sets Rising Star apart on work
A big share show a job far from home
49% 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 ↓
Commutes from Rising Star are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. 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 291 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How many miles Rising Star commutes
About 49% 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 17 minutes each way for Rising Star’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rising Star workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 260 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.
How a workday changes Rising Star
On a workday 249 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 153 people come in from elsewhere.
About 670 people are in Rising Star on a workday afternoon, 13% 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.
Where the trip to work from Rising Star ends
Where Rising Star clocks in
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Rising Star
195 jobs are based in Rising Star.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rising Star, 2013 → 2023: 156 → 195. 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 Rising Star’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Rising Star: questions
What is the median household income in Rising Star?
$37,037 (±$4,390) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rising Star?
14.8%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rising Star?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rising Star work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brownwood (6%, 27 mi), Fort Worth (6%, 106 mi), Dallas (5%, 137 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Rising Star without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rising Star, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rising Star
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.