Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Arab’s household incomes are lower than in 67% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income C+: better than 38% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #92 of 187 in Alabama.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns · #80 of 187 in Alabama.
Working residents average 29 minutes each way (Alabama 26, U.S. 26). About one in five work in Arab; the top destination outside it is Huntsville (25%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Arab, in brief
Arab trades workers with the towns around it
Arab has about as many jobs (3,739) as working residents (3,607), but they are mostly different people: 2,988 residents leave for work each day while 3,120 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Arab are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Arab’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Arab is Huntsville, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 25% of working residents (885) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Arab’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Arab is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #92 of 187 in Alabama. Unemployment holds Arab’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Arab could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 2,988 residents head out to work, 619 work right here, and 3,120 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.04 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Half of Arab commutes less than 26 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 20% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
25% of working residents work in Huntsville
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Arab clocks in
25% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 3,739 jobs in Arab are
3,739 jobs are based in Arab. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Arab’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arab, 2013 → 2023: 3,339 → 3,739. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
About 29 minutes each way, longer than most of Alabama
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arab workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,513 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Alabama: 88% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Most trips from Arab start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Arab is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns, #80 of 187 in Alabama. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 1.7% across Alabama.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,826 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.3% of Arab households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Arab’s commuters take a bus or train.
Arab is 2,041st of 2,891 U.S. towns of 6,300 to 12,200 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Arab, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 147 | Meadowbrook AL | 9,117 | $142K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 303 | Pike Road AL | 11,899 | $117K | 5.1% | 0.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 403 | Brook Highland AL | 8,146 | $80K | 4.6% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,039 | Rochelle IL | 9,498 | $66K | 7.9% | 8.2% | 35% | C+ |
| 2,040 | Baltimore Highlands MD | 8,206 | $62K | 18.3% | 6.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,041 | Arab AL | 9,061 | $64K | 13.3% | 3.2% | 17% | C+ |
| 2,042 | Atlantic IA | 6,676 | $61K | 17.4% | 1.1% | 43% | C+ |
| 2,043 | Church Hill TN | 7,297 | $66K | 6.4% | 13.9% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,891 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Arab: questions
What is the median household income in Arab?
$64,333 (±$4,936) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arab?
13.3%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arab?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arab work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Huntsville (25%, 27 mi), Guntersville (5%, 14 mi), Birmingham (4%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arab walkable?
Arab is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arab without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arab, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arab
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.