Work & commute · Surfside Beach

Work & commute in Surfside Beach, TX

Most working residents leave Surfside Beach for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Houston (23%), Clute (9%) and Lake Jackson (9%). Half commute less than 40 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

2 of 235 working residents

Typical commute

40 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 233 Surfside Beach residents head out of town to work, 2 work right here, and 251 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Surfside Beach.

233live here, work elsewhere

2live and work here

251work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Surfside Beach goes to work

Houston57.7 mi away

23%53

Clute8.5 mi away

9%21

Lake Jackson12.1 mi away

9%21

Freeport4.5 mi away

8%18

Oyster Creek4 mi away

5%11

Galveston24.9 mi away

3%6

Quintana4.1 mi away

2%5

Angleton17.3 mi away

2%5

Sugar Land48.9 mi away

2%5

Pasadena49 mi away

2%5

Everywhere elseother towns and states

36%85

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

How far

How far Surfside Beach commutes

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

31%

11%

21%

37%

31%Under 10 mi

11%10–24 mi

21%25–50 mi

37%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Surfside Beach is balanced between jobs and homes

1.08jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.08 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Surfside Beach are

253 jobs are based in Surfside Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Surfside Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Surfside Beach

253 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities4%

Services (health, schools, offices…)81%

$1,250 a month or less34%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month32%

Jobs Surfside Beach residents hold

235 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)51%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month65%

+45%

Jobs based in Surfside Beach, 2013 → 2023: 174 → 253. 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.