Work & commute · Forest Heights

Work & commute in Forest Heights, TX

Most working residents leave Forest Heights for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Orange (18%), Beaumont (14%) and Houston (7%). Half commute less than 24 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

13 of 495 working residents

Typical commute

24 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 482 Forest Heights residents head out of town to work, 13 work right here, and 667 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Forest Heights.

482live here, work elsewhere

13live and work here

667work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Forest Heights goes to work

Orange7.7 mi away

18%91

Beaumont25.2 mi away

14%68

Houston102.2 mi away

7%35

Port Arthur24.5 mi away

6%32

Forest Heights (in town)right here

3%13

Bridge City14.8 mi away

2%12

Vidor15.6 mi away

2%9

Nederland23.3 mi away

2%8

Deer Park89.4 mi away

2%8

Pasadena92.4 mi away

1%7

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%212

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Forest Heights commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

26%

30%

13%

31%

26%Under 10 mi

30%10–24 mi

13%25–50 mi

31%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Forest Heights is balanced between jobs and homes

1.37jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Forest Heights are

680 jobs are based in Forest Heights. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Forest Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Forest Heights

680 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)79%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)1%

$1,250 a month or less2%

$1,251–$3,333 a month1%

Over $3,333 a month97%

Jobs Forest Heights residents hold

495 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month57%

+344%

Jobs based in Forest Heights, 2013 → 2023: 153 → 680. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.