Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0San Augustine has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
The two grades for San Augustine are D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 46.0% of residents are in poverty (Texas 13.8%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets San Augustine apart on work
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of San Augustine workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of San Augustine’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from San Augustine are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 38 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 644 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside San Augustine’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, San Augustine is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides San Augustine’s grade.
Unemployment (8.9%) is left out: San Augustine’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, San Augustine stays D−.
Short hops and long hauls from San Augustine
About 34% 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 924 jobs based in San Augustine
924 jobs are based in San Augustine.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in San Augustine, 2013 → 2023: 946 → 924. 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 San Augustine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from San Augustine: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of San Augustine workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 687 commuters (the 6% 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.
San Augustine on a workday afternoon
On a workday 527 residents head out to work, 117 work right here, and 807 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in San Augustine on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 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.
10% of working residents work in Center
Where San Augustine clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: San Augustine
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, San Augustine is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 729 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). 16.1% of San Augustine households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of San Augustine’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, and where San Augustine sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Seis Lagos TX | 1,391 | $249K | 1.2% | 4.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 25 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,580 | Lordsburg NM | 2,181 | $37K | 23.5% | 4.6% | 42% | D− |
| 5,581 | Clifton TN | 2,344 | $44K | 39.5% | 3.1% | 9% | D− |
| 5,582 | San Augustine TX | 1,839 | $28K | 46.0% | 8.9% | 18% | D− |
| 5,583 | East Carbon UT | 1,565 | $38K | 22.4% | 18.0% | 2% | D− |
| 5,584 | Exmore VA | 1,396 | $29K | 28.9% | 7.3% | 12% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 San Augustine, 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 San Augustine: questions
What is the median household income in San Augustine?
$27,500 (±$14,001) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in San Augustine?
46.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from San Augustine?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in San Augustine work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Center (10%, 19 mi), Nacogdoches (7%, 32 mi), Houston (6%, 142 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is San Augustine walkable?
San Augustine is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around San Augustine without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from San Augustine, from the people who make the trip.
More of San Augustine
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.