Work & commute · Tool

Work & commute in Tool, TX

Most working residents leave Tool for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Mabank (7%), Gun Barrel City (6%) and Athens (6%). Half commute less than 40 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

24 of 642 working residents

Typical commute

40 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

47 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 618 Tool residents head out of town to work, 24 work right here, and 136 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Tool.

618live here, work elsewhere

24live and work here

136work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Tool goes to work

Mabank7.3 mi away

7%45

Gun Barrel City4.1 mi away

6%41

Athens20.7 mi away

6%39

Dallas49.5 mi away

5%31

Tool (in town)right here

4%24

Tyler50.7 mi away

4%23

Corsicana22 mi away

3%20

Austin165.7 mi away

2%14

Houston178.5 mi away

2%14

Ennis27.1 mi away

2%13

Everywhere elseother towns and states

59%378

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

How far

How far Tool commutes

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

25%

19%

14%

43%

25%Under 10 mi

19%10–24 mi

14%25–50 mi

43%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Tool is a commuter town

0.25jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.25 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Tool are

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

Jobs based in Tool

160 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities54%

Services (health, schools, offices…)41%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month43%

Over $3,333 a month38%

Jobs Tool residents hold

642 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)57%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month50%

−30%

Jobs based in Tool, 2013 → 2023: 230 → 160. 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.