Silsbee vs Sour Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Silsbee and Sour Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

Silsbee and Sour Lake are places in Texas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Silsbee has the higher population (6,883 vs 2,162 in Sour Lake). Sour Lake has the higher median household income ($73,190 vs $60,083 in Silsbee). Sour Lake has the higher median home value ($161,800 vs $160,600 in Silsbee).

Population, income & housing

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
Population	6,883	2,162
Median age	37.6 yrs	30.7 yrs
Median household income	$60,083	$73,190
Median home value	$160,600	$161,800
Median gross rent	$967	$1,164
Housing units	3,290	837
Homeownership rate	66.6%	64.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.4%	21.5%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
Population	6,634 → 6,883 (+3.8%)	2,206 → 2,162 (-2.0%)
Median household income	$46,034 → $60,083 (+30.5%)	$56,065 → $73,190 (+30.5%)
Median home value	$107,700 → $160,600 (+49.1%)	$97,400 → $161,800 (+66.1%)
Median gross rent	$802 → $967 (+20.6%)	$913 → $1,164 (+27.5%)

Silsbee

Population

6,6346,883

Median household income

$46,034$60,083

Median home value

$107,700$160,600

Median gross rent

$802$967

Sour Lake

Population

2,2062,162

Median household income

$56,065$73,190

Median home value

$97,400$161,800

Median gross rent

$913$1,164

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
Under 5	5.0%	12.7%
5 to 17	21.3%	23.4%
18 to 24	8.1%	4.8%
25 to 34	13.5%	16.2%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.0%
45 to 54	7.9%	10.3%
55 to 64	13.6%	10.1%
65 to 74	10.3%	9.7%
75 and over	8.8%	1.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	53.0%	86.3%
Black or African American	27.0%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.8%
Two or more races	6.8%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	12.6%	9.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
No high school diploma	10.3%	10.9%
High school graduate	38.6%	42.9%
Some college or associate's	33.7%	24.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.6%	17.4%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	4.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
Drove alone	91.2%	82.4%
Carpooled	4.9%	5.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.2%	7.3%
Other means	0.7%	4.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
1-unit, detached	75.7%	72.0%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	1.3%
5 to 19 units	7.2%	5.0%
20 or more units	2.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	8.0%	18.9%

Poverty & households

	Silsbee	Sour Lake
Poverty rate	17.1%	14.1%
Average household size	2.43	2.96
Mean commute (minutes)	30	28
Median year structure built	1975	1978