Every workday, about 1,500 people come to Rockdale for work, and 2,000 head out
About one in 5 of Rockdale’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Austin (13%), Round Rock (4%) and San Antonio (4%). Half commute less than 40 miles.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,982 residents head out to work, 503 work right here, and 1,501 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 (0.81 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.
13% of working residents work in Austin
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Rockdale clocks in
13% of workers
4% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Rockdale commutes less than 40 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 36% 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.
What the 2,004 jobs in Rockdale are
2,004 jobs are based in Rockdale. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rockdale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rockdale, 2013 → 2023: 2,014 → 2,004. 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.
About 32 minutes each way, longer than most of Texas
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rockdale workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Rockdale and the towns next door
Darker towns draw more of Rockdale’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
- Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
More of Rockdale
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rockdale, from the people who make the trip.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.