With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Sam Rayburn works elsewhere
188 jobs are based in Sam Rayburn for 415 working residents. Sam Rayburn grades B for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 2% stay in Sam Rayburn for work; outside it, Jasper is the main destination (23%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Sam Rayburn: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
45% 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 ↓
Sam Rayburn and Jasper trade workers both ways
Jasper is the top workplace for Sam Rayburn residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Sam Rayburn come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 415 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Sam Rayburn: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Sam Rayburn is better than 58% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Sam Rayburn’s grade up (0.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (6.9%) is left out: Sam Rayburn’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Sam Rayburn could be anywhere from B− to B+.
How far Sam Rayburn goes to work
About 45% 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 places Sam Rayburn commutes to
Where Sam Rayburn clocks in
23% 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.
Who leaves Sam Rayburn for work, and who comes in
On a workday 406 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 179 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Sam Rayburn on a workday afternoon, 17% 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.
The kinds of work in Sam Rayburn
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sam Rayburn, 2013 → 2023: 149 → 188. 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 Sam Rayburn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Sam Rayburn: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sam Rayburn workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 421 commuters (the 9% 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.
Few in Sam Rayburn walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sam Rayburn is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 462 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). 7.6% of Sam Rayburn households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sam Rayburn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sam Rayburn next to U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,800: 1,458th of 5,400 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 30 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,456 | Palmer Township OH | 1,177 | $82K | 5.1% | 4.3% | 2% | B |
| 1,457 | Bear Creek AK | 1,732 | $96K | 3.1% | 6.7% | — | B |
| 1,458 | Sam Rayburn TX | 1,366 | $83K | 0.9% | 6.9% | 2% | B |
| 1,459 | Pierce CO | 1,086 | $61K | 3.0% | 15.6% | 1% | B |
| 1,460 | Battle Creek NE | 1,188 | $96K | 6.7% | 0.9% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Sam Rayburn, 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 Sam Rayburn: questions
What is the median household income in Sam Rayburn?
$83,056 (±$15,507) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sam Rayburn?
0.9%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sam Rayburn?
31 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sam Rayburn work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jasper (23%, 11 mi), Beaumont (6%, 69 mi), Houston (5%, 121 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sam Rayburn walkable?
Sam Rayburn is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sam Rayburn without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sam Rayburn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sam Rayburn
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.