Photo: Nicolas Henderson from Coppell, Texas · CC BY 2.0Jobs and earnings in Sour Lake, and the trip to work
The two grades for Sour Lake are C+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. About one in seven work in Sour Lake itself; outside it, Beaumont draws the most (30%, 16 miles). Commuters spend 26 minutes getting to work on average, where Texas has 27 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Sour Lake apart on work
Sour Lake has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Sour Lake went from 487 in 2014 to 970 in 2024, +99%. The jobs ↓
Sour Lake and Beaumont trade workers both ways
Beaumont is the top workplace for Sour Lake residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Sour Lake 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 823 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Sour Lake gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Sour Lake is better than 42% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sour Lake’s grade.
Unemployment (6.6%) is left out: Sour Lake’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, Sour Lake could be anywhere from C− to B+.
What work there is in Sour Lake: 970 jobs
970 jobs are based in Sour Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sour Lake, 2014 → 2024: 487 → 970. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sour Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Sour Lake work
Where Sour Lake clocks in
30% of workers
8% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Sour Lake
On a workday 721 residents head out to work, 102 work right here, and 868 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The daily trip from Sour Lake: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sour Lake workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 828 commuters (the 10% 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.
How many miles Sour Lake commutes
About 29% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Sour Lake: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sour Lake is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Sour Lake 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 919 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). 3.3% of Sour Lake households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sour Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sour Lake is 2,687th of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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% | 1% | 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% | 4% | A+ |
| 25 | Oak Leaf TX | 1,684 | $132K | 2.8% | 5.5% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,685 | Burton OH | 1,424 | $69K | 13.8% | 1.6% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,686 | Tremont PA | 1,696 | $77K | 10.4% | 3.9% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,687 | Sour Lake TX | 1,841 | $73K | 12.6% | 6.6% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,688 | Jackson Township IN | 1,397 | $62K | 7.1% | 1.3% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,689 | Colrain MA | 1,654 | $81K | 7.2% | 4.1% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Sour Lake, 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 2024, 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 Sour Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Sour Lake?
$73,241 (±$23,336) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sour Lake?
12.6%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sour Lake?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sour Lake work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaumont (30%, 16 mi), Houston (8%, 64 mi), Port Arthur (3%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sour Lake walkable?
Sour Lake is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sour Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sour Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sour Lake
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.