Wilcox Female Institute · Photo: Altairisfar · Public domainHousehold incomes in Camden trail those of 98% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in Camden for work; outside it, Mobile is the main destination (5%, 104 miles). Below the poverty line: 25.5% of residents, where Alabama as a whole has 15.6%. Camden grades D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Camden
Camden is where the jobs are
Camden has 968 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Camden workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Camden’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 619 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Camden’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Camden is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Camden’s grade.
Unemployment (15.1%) is left out: Camden’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, Camden could be anywhere from D− to D.
The daily commute in and out of Camden
On a workday 437 residents head out to work, 182 work right here, and 786 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Camden on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The commute from Camden, by distance
About 34% 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.
What work there is in Camden: 968 jobs
968 jobs are based in Camden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Camden, 2013 → 2023: 1,073 → 968. 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 Camden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Camden
Where Camden clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
About 31 minutes each way for Camden’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Camden workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 623 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.
Getting around Camden: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Camden is more walkable than 24% 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 647 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 Camden households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Camden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Camden sits among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Shoal Creek AL | 1,328 | $218K | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 335 | Westover AL | 2,121 | $97K | 4.1% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 888 | Smoke Rise AL | 1,471 | $86K | 5.5% | 8.6% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,306 | Exmore VA | 1,396 | $29K | 28.9% | 7.3% | 12% | D− |
| 5,307 | Sterling Township IN | 1,593 | $41K | 41.3% | 7.5% | 4% | D− |
| 5,308 | Camden AL | 1,646 | $36K | 25.5% | 15.1% | 29% | D− |
| 5,309 | Century FL | 1,799 | $28K | 22.1% | 7.6% | 6% | D− |
| 5,310 | Durant MS | 1,958 | $30K | 31.8% | 0.0% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Camden, 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 Camden: questions
What is the median household income in Camden?
$36,481 (±$17,032) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Camden?
25.5%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Camden?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Camden work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mobile (5%, 104 mi), Montgomery (4%, 64 mi), Selma (3%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Camden walkable?
Camden is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Camden 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 Camden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Camden
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.