Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY 3.0Work and commuting in Rocksprings
A typical one-way commute lasts 19 minutes; Texas averages 27, the U.S. 26. At home: 2% of workers have no commute at all (Texas 14%). About one in five stay in Rocksprings for work; outside it, San Antonio is the main destination (10%, 108 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Rocksprings apart
A big share show a job far from home
64% 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 ↓
Rocksprings’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Rocksprings is San Antonio, 108 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (22) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Rocksprings are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 61 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 230 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The distance from Rocksprings to work
About 64% 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.
Time on the road from Rocksprings: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rocksprings workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 336 commuters (the 2% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 183 residents head out to work, 47 work right here, and 134 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 (0.79 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 places Rocksprings commutes to
Where Rocksprings clocks in
10% of workers
4% of workers
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.
Inside Rocksprings’ 181 jobs
181 jobs are based in Rocksprings.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rocksprings, 2013 → 2023: 162 → 181. 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 Rocksprings’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 Rocksprings: questions
What is the poverty rate in Rocksprings?
44.2%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rocksprings?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rocksprings work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Antonio (10%, 108 mi), Laredo (4%, 175 mi), Austin (3%, 148 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Rocksprings without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rocksprings, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rocksprings
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.