Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Robert Lee trail those of 98% of U.S. towns
6% of workers work from home (Texas 14%). Below the poverty line: 27.0% of residents, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Robert Lee grades D− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Robert Lee in brief
Robert Lee’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Robert Lee is San Angelo, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 27% of working residents (80) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Robert Lee are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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; with 301 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Robert Lee’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Robert Lee is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Robert Lee’s grade.
Unemployment (3.1%) is left out: Robert Lee’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Robert Lee stays D−.
The distance from Robert Lee to work
About 34% 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.
The daily trip from Robert Lee: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Robert Lee workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 351 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Robert Lee
On a workday 222 residents head out to work, 79 work right here, and 143 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.
0.74 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.
27% of working residents work in San Angelo
Where Robert Lee clocks in
4% 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.
The 222 jobs based in Robert Lee
222 jobs are based in Robert Lee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Robert Lee, 2013 → 2023: 206 → 222. 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 Robert Lee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Robert Lee is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Robert Lee is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Robert Lee near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 374 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). 9.0% of Robert Lee households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Robert Lee’s commuters take a bus or train.
Robert Lee and other U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Weston TX | 1,140 | $144K | 2.8% | 0.7% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Randolph AFB TX | 1,240 | $113K | 2.8% | 3.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,068 | Olla LA | 1,325 | $30K | 26.8% | 11.7% | 6% | D− |
| 3,069 | Vardaman MS | 1,060 | $38K | 44.2% | 2.8% | 5% | D− |
| 3,070 | Robert Lee TX | 1,061 | $34K | 27.0% | 3.1% | 26% | D− |
| 3,071 | Wendover UT | 1,135 | $44K | 26.0% | 2.7% | 8% | D− |
| 3,072 | Mentor Township MI | 1,101 | $43K | 23.3% | 9.3% | 10% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Robert Lee, 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 Robert Lee: questions
What is the median household income in Robert Lee?
$34,172 (±$6,934) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Robert Lee?
27.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Robert Lee?
15 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Robert Lee work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Angelo (27%, 32 mi), Austin (4%, 196 mi), Midland (2%, 96 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Robert Lee walkable?
Robert Lee is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Robert Lee without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Robert Lee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Robert Lee
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.