Blanco Historic District · Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Sandy Oaks has higher unemployment (9.1%) than 92% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Sandy Oaks C−; getting around on foot earns it D−. Only 1% stay in Sandy Oaks for work; outside it, San Antonio is the main destination (57%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Sandy Oaks stands out on work
More than half of Sandy Oaks works in San Antonio
1,117 working residents, 57%, have their main job in San Antonio, 21 miles away. That’s 57 times as many as work in Sandy Oaks itself. The commute map ↓
Sandy Oaks is a place people come home to
There are 99 jobs based in Sandy Oaks, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sandy Oaks has about 4,000 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Sandy Oaks workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 27 across Texas. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 54 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Sandy Oaks
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sandy Oaks is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #509 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Sandy Oaks’ grade up (ahead of 76% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sandy Oaks could be anywhere from D to B+.
Where people from Sandy Oaks work
Where Sandy Oaks clocks in
57% of workers
5% of workers
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.
In and out of Sandy Oaks on a workday
On a workday 1,937 residents head out to work, 24 work right here, and 75 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Sandy Oaks on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.05 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The daily trip from Sandy Oaks: about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sandy Oaks workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,647 commuters (the 14% 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.
Jobs in Sandy Oaks: what the 99 are
99 jobs are based in Sandy Oaks.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sandy Oaks, 2013 → 2023: 21 → 99. 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 Sandy Oaks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Sandy Oaks works
About 23% 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.
In Sandy Oaks, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sandy Oaks is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns, #627 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Sandy Oaks 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 1,910 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.0% of Sandy Oaks households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sandy Oaks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,432 U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900, Sandy Oaks comes 2,804th on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,802 | Metropolis IL | 5,727 | $50K | 17.6% | 2.6% | 28% | C− |
| 2,803 | Monessen PA | 6,657 | $53K | 20.8% | 6.0% | 9% | C− |
| 2,804 | Sandy Oaks TX | 5,874 | $51K | 16.7% | 9.1% | 1% | C− |
| 2,805 | Piedmont AL | 4,696 | $41K | 19.9% | 2.8% | 20% | C− |
| 2,806 | Caribou ME | 7,321 | $54K | 15.5% | 3.4% | 42% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Sandy Oaks, 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 Sandy Oaks: questions
What is the median household income in Sandy Oaks?
$50,806 (±$14,002) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sandy Oaks?
16.7%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sandy Oaks?
34 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sandy Oaks work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Antonio (57%, 21 mi), Austin (5%, 87 mi), Houston (4%, 186 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sandy Oaks walkable?
Sandy Oaks is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sandy Oaks without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sandy Oaks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sandy Oaks
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.