Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Elberta has lower unemployment (1.9%) than 86% of U.S. towns
Only 4% work in Elberta itself; outside it, Foley draws the most (19%, 5 miles). Jobs and income earn Elberta C; getting around on foot earns it D. Measured by household income, Elberta is behind 81% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Elberta stands out on work
Where Elberta’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Elberta is better than 27% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Elberta’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (21.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elberta could be anywhere from D to B−.
Where Elberta goes to work
Where Elberta clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
Who leaves Elberta for work, and who comes in
On a workday 726 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 424 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Elberta on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.60 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Inside Elberta’s 456 jobs
456 jobs are based in Elberta.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elberta, 2013 → 2023: 242 → 456. 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 Elberta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Elberta’s commute takes 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 Elberta workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 965 commuters (the 10% 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.
Elberta’s commute, mile by mile
About 15% 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.
For most of Elberta, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elberta is more walkable than 13% 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 1,069 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). 6.2% of Elberta households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elberta’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900, Elberta ranks 3,596th of 5,404 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Indian Springs Village AL | 2,553 | $137K | 3.4% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 401 | Westover AL | 2,121 | $97K | 4.1% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 454 | Trinity AL | 2,638 | $101K | 3.1% | 2.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,594 | Conemaugh Township PA | 2,043 | $63K | 12.1% | 5.6% | 5% | C |
| 3,595 | New Milford Township PA | 1,780 | $62K | 10.1% | 2.3% | 6% | C |
| 3,596 | Elberta AL | 2,183 | $55K | 21.4% | 1.9% | 4% | C |
| 3,597 | Willamina OR | 2,276 | $59K | 6.8% | 5.7% | 4% | C |
| 3,598 | Irrigon OR | 2,042 | $74K | 12.2% | 4.6% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Elberta, 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 Elberta: questions
What is the median household income in Elberta?
$55,000 (±$11,474) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elberta?
21.4%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elberta?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elberta work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Foley (19%, 5 mi), Gulf Shores (9%, 9 mi), Orange Beach (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elberta walkable?
Elberta 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 Elberta without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elberta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elberta
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.