Work & commute · Sour Lake

Work & commute in Sour Lake, TX

Most working residents leave Sour Lake for work: only 12% work in town. The top destinations are Beaumont (31%), Houston (6%) and Port Arthur (3%). Half commute less than 18 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

12%

85 of 726 working residents

Typical commute

18 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

10%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 641 Sour Lake residents head out of town to work, 85 work right here, and 881 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Sour Lake.

641live here, work elsewhere

85live and work here

881work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Sour Lake goes to work

Beaumont15.9 mi away

31%226

Sour Lake (in town)right here

12%85

Houston63.8 mi away

6%45

Port Arthur34.6 mi away

3%25

Lumberton14.3 mi away

3%21

Nederland26.7 mi away

2%14

Deer Park52.6 mi away

1%9

Pasadena55.8 mi away

1%8

Austin200.3 mi away

1%8

Baytown42.4 mi away

1%7

Everywhere elseother towns and states

38%278

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

How far

How far Sour Lake commutes

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

16%

45%

14%

25%

16%Under 10 mi

45%10–24 mi

14%25–50 mi

25%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Sour Lake is balanced between jobs and homes

1.33jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Sour Lake are

966 jobs are based in Sour Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sour Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Sour Lake

966 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month51%

Jobs Sour Lake residents hold

726 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month63%

+16%

Jobs based in Sour Lake, 2013 → 2023: 835 → 966. 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.