Photo: Patrick Feller from Humble, Texas, USA · CC BY 2.0More people are out of work in Rusk (11.4%) than in 96% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Rusk; the top destination outside it is Jacksonville (10%, 13 miles). Rusk grades C− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Measured by household income, Rusk is behind 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rusk at work: what stands out
Rusk is where the jobs are
Rusk has 2,544 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% 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 ↓
A lot of Rusk works from home
22% of Rusk workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. 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.
Inside Rusk’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rusk is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #526 of 642 in Texas. The poverty rate holds Rusk’s grade up (8.5%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rusk could be anywhere from D to B+.
Rusk by day and by night
On a workday 1,309 residents head out to work, 354 work right here, and 2,190 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,400 people are in Rusk on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Rusk
About 40% 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 27 minutes to work from Rusk
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rusk workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 816 commuters (the 22% 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 trip into Rusk
Where Rusk clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Rusk
2,544 jobs are based in Rusk.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rusk, 2013 → 2023: 2,755 → 2,544. 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 Rusk’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Rusk, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rusk is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns, #499 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Rusk 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 1,042 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 Rusk households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rusk’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rusk places 2,943rd of 3,502 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,941 | Rensselaer IN | 5,681 | $60K | 15.3% | 5.8% | 29% | C− |
| 2,942 | Ste. Genevieve MO | 5,065 | $48K | 12.8% | 5.3% | 31% | C− |
| 2,943 | Rusk TX | 5,568 | $53K | 8.5% | 11.4% | 21% | C− |
| 2,944 | Ionia Township MI | 4,125 | $60K | 24.6% | 5.9% | 5% | C− |
| 2,945 | Stokes Township OH | 4,585 | $55K | 14.6% | 5.7% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Rusk, 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 Rusk: questions
What is the median household income in Rusk?
$53,438 (±$15,831) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rusk?
8.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rusk?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rusk work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jacksonville (10%, 13 mi), Houston (6%, 140 mi), Tyler (5%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rusk walkable?
Rusk is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rusk 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 Rusk, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rusk
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.