Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Rockwall has higher household incomes than 86% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 32 minutes on average, where Texas has 27 and the U.S. 26. Below the poverty line: 4.0% of residents, next to 13.8% across Texas. For jobs and income Rockwall is better than 90% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Rockwall apart
Rockwall trades workers with the towns around it
Rockwall has about as many jobs (25,315) as working residents (23,810), but they are mostly different people: 20,382 residents leave for work each day while 21,887 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Rockwall are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Rockwall has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Rockwall went from 15,739 in 2013 to 25,315 in 2023, +61%. The jobs ↓
Rockwall workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Rockwall’s grade explained
Job access by car holds Rockwall’s grade up (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rockwall could be anywhere from A− to A+.
How a workday changes Rockwall
On a workday 20,382 residents head out to work, 3,428 work right here, and 21,887 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 (1.06 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 kinds of work in Rockwall
25,315 jobs are based in Rockwall.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rockwall, 2013 → 2023: 15,739 → 25,315. 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 Rockwall’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 32 minutes from Rockwall
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rockwall workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 20,908 commuters (the 19% 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.
23% of working residents work in Dallas
Where Rockwall clocks in
4% 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.
How far Rockwall goes to work
About 15% 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.
Most of Rockwall commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 25,867 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). 2.5% of Rockwall households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Rockwall’s commuters take a bus or train.
115th of 830: where Rockwall ranks among U.S. towns of 38,000 to 73,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| 4 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Coppell TX | 41,386 | $146K | 5.4% | 2.6% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | El Dorado Hills CA | 51,026 | $165K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 12% | A |
| 114 | Vestavia Hills AL | 38,306 | $134K | 10.0% | 1.9% | 9% | A |
| 115 | Rockwall TX | 53,980 | $116K | 4.0% | 4.4% | 14% | A |
| 116 | St. Peters MO | 61,479 | $92K | 5.6% | 2.3% | 10% | A |
| 117 | Saratoga Springs UT | 61,397 | $129K | 5.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 830 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Rockwall, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
Next door is work for 23% of Rockwall
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Dallas. Darker towns draw more of Rockwall’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 Rockwall: questions
What is the median household income in Rockwall?
$115,580 (±$6,323) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rockwall?
4.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rockwall?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rockwall work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dallas (23%, 21 mi), Garland (4%, 11 mi), Plano (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rockwall walkable?
Rockwall is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rockwall without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rockwall, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rockwall
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.