Alabama Midland Railway Depot · Photo: The Bushranger · CC BY-SA 4.0Dothan draws about half of Ashford’s working residents
Only 6% work in Ashford; the top destination outside it is Dothan (47%, 11 miles). Ashford grades C+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Working residents average 26 minutes each way, about the same as across Alabama.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Ashford
Nearly half of Ashford works in Dothan
438 working residents, 47%, have their main job in Dothan, 11 miles away. That’s 8 times as many as work in Ashford itself. The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
52% of the jobs in Ashford are in trade, transport and utilities, against 25% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Ashford has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Ashford went from 716 in 2013 to 998 in 2023, +39%. The jobs ↓
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; with 938 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Ashford gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ashford is better than 39% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Ashford’s grade up (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ashford could be anywhere from C− to B.
Where Ashford goes to work
Where Ashford clocks in
47% of workers
3% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Ashford: what the 998 are
998 jobs are based in Ashford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashford, 2013 → 2023: 716 → 998. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ashford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Ashford, and who commutes in
On a workday 878 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 938 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 (1.06 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.
Time on the road from Ashford: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashford workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,051 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Alabama: 88% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Near or far: the trip to work from Ashford
About 22% 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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Ashford, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashford is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ashford near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,100 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). 5.1% of Ashford households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ashford’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ashford ranks: 2,899th of 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | Indian Springs Village AL | 2,553 | $137K | 3.4% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Eagle Point AL | 3,110 | $152K | 3.2% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 415 | Westover AL | 2,121 | $97K | 4.1% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,897 | Johnson Township OH | 3,135 | $60K | 7.4% | 5.6% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,898 | San Ysidro NM | 2,118 | $89K | 8.6% | 15.8% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,899 | Ashford AL | 2,470 | $65K | 15.0% | 3.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,900 | Lincoln AR | 2,370 | $68K | 12.4% | 3.1% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,901 | West Union IA | 2,424 | $54K | 11.6% | 1.4% | 32% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Ashford, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
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 Ashford: questions
What is the median household income in Ashford?
$65,341 (±$5,812) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashford?
15.0%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashford?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashford work?
6% work in town.
Is Ashford walkable?
Ashford is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashford
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.