Photo: Lothar the Terrible · Public domainRule has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Rule report 117 jobs for 222 working residents. Only 5% stay in Rule for work; outside it, Haskell is the main destination (14%, 10 miles). For 7% of workers, the job is at home, against 14% across Texas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Rule
A big share show a job far from home
57% 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 Rule 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 222 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Half of Rule commutes less than 55 miles
About 57% 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.
Each way, about 17 minutes from Rule
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rule workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 268 commuters (the 7% 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 daily commute in and out of Rule
On a workday 211 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 106 people come in from elsewhere.
About 460 people are in Rule on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
Where the trip to work from Rule ends
Where Rule clocks in
14% of workers
9% of workers
5% 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.
What Rule’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rule, 2013 → 2023: 97 → 117. 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 Rule’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 Rule: questions
What is the median household income in Rule?
$34,792 (±$15,399) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rule?
38.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rule?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rule work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Haskell (14%, 10 mi), Abilene (9%, 51 mi), Stamford (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Rule without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rule, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rule
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.