Households in Berry earn less than those in 97% of U.S. towns
Berry grades D− for jobs and income and D for walkability. The poverty rate is 29.0%, next to 15.6% for Alabama as a whole. For 0% of workers, the job is at home, against 9% across Alabama.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Berry stands out on work
Fewer jobs are based in Berry than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Berry fell from 495 in 2013 to 184 in 2023, −63%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Berry’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Berry is Tuscaloosa, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (76) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Berry workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 26 across Alabama. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 462 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Berry
On income, poverty and job access, Berry is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Berry’s grade.
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Berry’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Berry could be anywhere from D− to D.
What the 184 jobs in Berry are
184 jobs are based in Berry.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Berry, 2013 → 2023: 495 → 184. 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 Berry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Berry commutes less than 32 miles
About 27% 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.
Each way, about 31 minutes from Berry
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Berry workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 386 commuters (the 0% 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.
Who commutes out of Berry, and who commutes in
On a workday 435 residents head out to work, 27 work right here, and 157 people come in from elsewhere.
About 910 people are in Berry on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.40 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in Tuscaloosa
Where Berry clocks in
11% of workers
5% 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.
Getting around Berry: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Berry is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 386 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). 8.6% of Berry households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Berry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Berry next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Shoal Creek AL | 1,328 | $218K | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 237 | Rock Creek AL | 1,103 | $84K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 254 | Blue Ridge AL | 1,190 | $128K | 6.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,182 | Santa Anna TX | 1,043 | $44K | 24.8% | 2.2% | 11% | D− |
| 4,183 | Monroe Township OH | 1,356 | $43K | 36.3% | 5.5% | 2% | D− |
| 4,184 | Berry AL | 1,192 | $37K | 29.0% | 1.3% | 6% | D− |
| 4,185 | Lakeview MI | 1,048 | $34K | 30.4% | 21.2% | 7% | D− |
| 4,186 | Rolling Fork MS | 1,387 | $46K | 24.5% | 6.9% | 24% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Berry, 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 Berry: questions
What is the median household income in Berry?
$37,031 (±$20,223) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Berry?
29.0%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Berry?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Berry work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tuscaloosa (16%, 30 mi), Fayette (11%, 13 mi), Birmingham (5%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Berry walkable?
Berry is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Berry without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Berry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Berry
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.