Foley Downtown Historic District (Boundary Increase) · Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Foley earn less than those in 64% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Foley; the top destination outside it is Gulf Shores (12%, 8 miles). Below the poverty line: 11.0% of residents, against 15.6% across Alabama. The two grades for Foley are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Foley, in a few figures
Inside Foley’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Foley is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #79 of 187 in Alabama. Unemployment holds Foley’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($66,336, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Foley could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Where the trip to work from Foley ends
Where Foley clocks in
12% of workers
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.
The daily flow of workers through Foley
On a workday 6,260 residents head out to work, 2,031 work right here, and 9,741 people come in from elsewhere.
About 34,000 people are in Foley on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 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.
What Foley’s employers do
11,772 jobs are based in Foley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Foley, 2013 → 2023: 8,858 → 11,772. 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 Foley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Foley, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Foley workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,190 commuters (the 11% 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.
How many miles Foley commutes
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 Foley, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Foley is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #42 of 187 in Alabama. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 10,271 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). 4.7% of Foley households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Foley’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Foley ranks: 1,037th of 1,415 U.S. towns of 21,000 to 41,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Trussville AL | 27,273 | $123K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Helena AL | 23,388 | $115K | 3.2% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,035 | Oak Park MI | 29,072 | $72K | 12.0% | 10.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,036 | Port St. John FL | 25,120 | $88K | 9.9% | 6.3% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,037 | Foley AL | 30,354 | $66K | 11.0% | 3.5% | 24% | C+ |
| 1,038 | Suitland MD | 23,793 | $72K | 13.5% | 8.7% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,039 | Montclair CA | 37,563 | $78K | 17.7% | 6.8% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,415 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Foley, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Work next door: 21% of Foley’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Foley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foley | – | C+ | B− | 26 min | $66,336 |
| Gulf Shores | 12% | B− | C+ | 22 min | $78,188 |
| Summerdale | under 2% | B | B− | 27 min | $70,110 |
| Orange Beach | 9% | B+ | B+ | 25 min | $97,736 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Gulf Shores. Darker towns draw more of Foley’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Foley: questions
What is the median household income in Foley?
$66,336 (±$7,152) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Foley?
11.0%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Foley?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Foley work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gulf Shores (12%, 8 mi), Mobile (10%, 32 mi), Orange Beach (9%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Foley walkable?
Foley is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Foley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Foley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Foley
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.