Photo: Public domain · Public domainElba’s household incomes are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers (Alabama 9%). Poverty touches 23.8% of residents, where Alabama as a whole has 15.6%. Elba grades D− for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Elba
Elba trades workers with the towns around it
Elba has about as many jobs (1,200) as working residents (1,156), but they are mostly different people: 955 residents leave for work each day while 999 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Elba are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Elba makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Elba are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Elba residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 29%. The jobs ↓
Few Elba workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 9% across Alabama. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Elba
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Elba is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #174 of 187 in Alabama. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Elba’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elba could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Who works in Elba, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 955 residents head out to work, 201 work right here, and 999 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.04 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Factories, building and farms: 36% of the jobs in Elba
1,200 jobs are based in Elba.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elba, 2013 → 2023: 1,568 → 1,200. 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 Elba’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Elba takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elba workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 943 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.
13% of working residents work in Enterprise
Where Elba clocks in
13% of workers
6% 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.
How far Elba’s workers travel
About 23% 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.
Most of Elba commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elba is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns, #161 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 943 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). 4.1% of Elba households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elba’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Elba sits among U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Indian Springs Village AL | 2,553 | $137K | 3.4% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 114 | Eagle Point AL | 3,110 | $152K | 3.2% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 180 | Priceville AL | 3,952 | $117K | 2.2% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,225 | Lee Acres NM | 4,272 | $45K | 30.0% | 15.2% | 6% | D− |
| 4,226 | Tri-City OR | 4,234 | $55K | 27.5% | 8.8% | 6% | D− |
| 4,227 | Elba AL | 3,408 | $45K | 23.8% | 8.3% | 17% | D− |
| 4,228 | Nowata OK | 3,584 | $48K | 25.5% | 7.8% | 26% | D− |
| 4,229 | Waverly TN | 4,430 | $44K | 16.2% | 14.1% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | 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 Elba, 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 Elba: questions
What is the median household income in Elba?
$44,792 (±$11,512) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elba?
23.8%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elba?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elba work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Enterprise (13%, 15 mi), Dothan (6%, 42 mi), Troy (4%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elba walkable?
Elba is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elba 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 Elba, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elba
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.