Photo: Djmaschek · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Sargent works elsewhere
Hardly any stay in Sargent for work; outside it, Houston is the main destination (29%, 70 miles). Employers in Sargent report 30 jobs; 495 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Sargent is better than 9% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Sargent
A big share show a job far from home
77% 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 ↓
Sargent is a place people come home to
There are 30 jobs based in Sargent, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sargent has about 960 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
29% of Sargent works in Houston
142 working residents, 29%, have their main job in Houston, 70 miles away. That’s 29 times as many as work in Sargent itself. 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 495 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Sargent’s grade
Household income holds Sargent’s grade up ($60,307, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.7%) is left out: Sargent’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, Sargent could be anywhere from D− to C.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Sargent
About 77% 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 daily flow of workers through Sargent
On a workday 491 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 26 people come in from elsewhere.
About 960 people are in Sargent on a workday afternoon, 33% 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 places Sargent commutes to
Where Sargent clocks in
29% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
A place that makes things: 33% of Sargent’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sargent, 2013 → 2023: 56 → 30. 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 Sargent’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Sargent’s commute takes about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sargent workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 403 commuters (the 21% 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 commute in Sargent is mostly behind the wheel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 2.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 509 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). 1.4% of Sargent households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sargent’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sargent next to U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900: 4,973rd of 5,877 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Rollingwood TX | 1,466 | $240K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 31 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,971 | Weeki Wachee Gardens FL | 1,068 | $57K | 46.0% | 31.3% | 1% | D |
| 4,972 | Cordova NC | 1,372 | $61K | 46.7% | 27.7% | 4% | D |
| 4,973 | Sargent TX | 1,422 | $60K | 18.6% | 4.7% | 1% | D |
| 4,974 | Gila Bend AZ | 1,816 | $52K | 12.2% | 0.0% | 22% | D |
| 4,975 | Sandoval IL | 1,123 | $53K | 26.7% | 4.5% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Sargent, 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 Sargent: questions
What is the median household income in Sargent?
$60,307 (±$12,357) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sargent?
18.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sargent?
33 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sargent work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (29%, 70 mi), Bay City (3%, 23 mi), Lake Jackson (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sargent walkable?
Sargent is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 2.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sargent without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sargent, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sargent
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.