Centre has lower household incomes than 93% of U.S. towns
Centre grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. The poverty rate is 21.1%, against 15.6% across Alabama. About one in four stay in Centre for work; outside it, Gadsden is the main destination (7%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Centre, in brief
Where Centre’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Centre’s grade up (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($44,664, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Centre could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Who commutes out of Centre, and who commutes in
On a workday 982 residents head out to work, 294 work right here, and 2,632 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,600 people are in Centre on a workday afternoon, 42% more than live here.
2.3 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 towns that send workers to Centre
Where Centre clocks in
7% 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 Centre: what the 2,926 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Centre, 2013 → 2023: 2,873 → 2,926. 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 Centre’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Centre: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Centre workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 940 commuters (the 16% 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.
Half of Centre commutes less than 22 miles
About 29% 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.
The commute in Centre is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Centre is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #92 of 187 in Alabama. 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 1,116 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). 2.6% of Centre households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Centre’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Centre sits among U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Eagle Point AL | 3,110 | $152K | 3.2% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Priceville AL | 3,952 | $117K | 2.2% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 220 | Argo AL | 4,376 | $105K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,089 | Watseka IL | 4,510 | $44K | 23.4% | 5.8% | 29% | D |
| 4,090 | Scottsville KY | 4,673 | $36K | 21.9% | 8.7% | 26% | D |
| 4,091 | Centre AL | 3,912 | $45K | 21.1% | 7.3% | 23% | D |
| 4,092 | Childersburg AL | 4,571 | $52K | 20.6% | 8.7% | 8% | D |
| 4,093 | Stanton KY | 3,153 | $25K | 26.0% | 7.1% | 20% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,364 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Centre, 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 Centre: questions
What is the median household income in Centre?
$44,664 (±$6,107) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Centre?
21.1%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Centre?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Centre work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gadsden (7%, 22 mi), Leesburg (5%, 6 mi), Rome (5%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Centre walkable?
Centre is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Centre without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Centre, from the people who make the trip.
More of Centre
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.