Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Cherokee works elsewhere
2% of workers work from home, next to 9% for Alabama as a whole. Cherokee has 60 jobs; 302 of its residents have a job. Only 3% work in Cherokee itself; outside it, Muscle Shoals draws the most (15%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cherokee and work: the main findings
Cherokee is a place people come home to
There are 60 jobs based in Cherokee, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Cherokee has about 730 people in it, 25% fewer than live here. 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 ↓
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 302 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The daily flow of workers through Cherokee
On a workday 293 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 51 people come in from elsewhere.
About 730 people are in Cherokee on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
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 Cherokee commutes less than 19 miles
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.
The places Cherokee commutes to
Where Cherokee clocks in
10% of workers
9% 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.
A place that makes things: 63% of Cherokee’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cherokee, 2013 → 2023: 89 → 60. 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 Cherokee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Cherokee: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cherokee workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 342 commuters (the 2% 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.
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 Cherokee: questions
What is the median household income in Cherokee?
$50,815 (±$6,854) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cherokee?
20.7%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cherokee?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cherokee work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Muscle Shoals (15%, 19 mi), Florence (10%, 18 mi), Huntsville (9%, 73 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cherokee 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 Cherokee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cherokee
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.