A question we frequently get is – where do folks in Rockdale/ Milam County work? I erroneously answered that Temple/Bell County is the main destination. This is why data is important because I was very wrong.
The number one commuting destination for Milam County residents is Austin/Travis County which makes sense as it is a very large employment center. In 2023, over 2,200 Milam County residents drove to work in Travis County. That’s nearly 20% of the entire workforce. Next was Williamson County at over 1,600, then Brazos County at 945, and then Bell County at 900. When added up, commuters to these counties make up 57% of Milam County’s workforce.
Milam County is a net exporter of workers. A total of 6,674 residents leave the county to work while 1,619 drive into the county to work here.
These numbers will start to look a lot different once new industry comes into Milam County. I would also expect to see the Williamson County number get higher as more Milam County residents start to work at Samsung and other industry to the west.
Why is this important? Commuters, especially super-commuters, represent a potential workforce for a company looking to come to Milam County. All else being equal, folks tend to like shorter commutes. Shorter commutes improve someone’s quality of life – they are able to get back some time out of their day so they can spend that time with family or whatever makes them happy.
Ideally, we want to have more Milam County folks live and work here – even if it’s driving from one side of the county to the other.
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