Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Douglas has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Hardly any work in Douglas; the top destination outside it is Albertville (23%, 9 miles). 45 jobs are based in Douglas for 294 working residents. 2% of workers have no commute at all, against 9% across Alabama.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Douglas: the figures worth knowing
Douglas is a place people come home to
There are 45 jobs based in Douglas, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Douglas has about 550 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Douglas and Albertville trade workers both ways
Albertville is the top workplace for Douglas residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Douglas come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Douglas workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 26 across Alabama. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 61 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 294 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
In and out of Douglas on a workday
On a workday 293 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 44 people come in from elsewhere.
About 550 people are in Douglas on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
Where the trip to work from Douglas ends
Where Douglas clocks in
23% of workers
13% of workers
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.
About 34 minutes each way for Douglas’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Douglas workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 414 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 Douglas’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Douglas, 2013 → 2023: 68 → 45. 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 Douglas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Douglas works
About 17% 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 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 Douglas: questions
What is the median household income in Douglas?
$62,000 (±$33,341) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Douglas?
21.7%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Douglas?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Douglas work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albertville (23%, 9 mi), Guntersville (13%, 14 mi), Huntsville (7%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Douglas 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 Douglas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Douglas
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.