Alabama Great Southern Railroad Passenger Depot · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Fort Payne has lower household incomes than 91% of U.S. towns
More than half work in Fort Payne itself; outside it, Rainsville draws the most (5%, 9 miles). 32.5% of residents live below the poverty line (Alabama 15.6%). Jobs and income earn Fort Payne D; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Fort Payne apart
Fort Payne is where the jobs are
Fort Payne has 12,672 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 22,000 people are in town, 46% more than the 15,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Fort Payne are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across Alabama. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Alabama worker. Time on the road ↓
Fort Payne draws workers from far and wide
The 12,672 jobs in Fort Payne are filled from a wide area. Fort Payne’s own residents hold 24% and the ten next-biggest home towns 14%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Fort Payne’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Payne is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #154 of 187 in Alabama. Unemployment holds Fort Payne’s grade up (5.0%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Payne could be anywhere from D− to C.
A workday in Fort Payne: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,661 residents head out to work, 3,018 work right here, and 9,654 people come in from elsewhere.
About 22,000 people are in Fort Payne on a workday afternoon, 46% more than live here.
2.2 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The daily trip from Fort Payne: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Payne workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,711 commuters (the 7% 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.
The daily trip into Fort Payne
Where Fort Payne clocks in
5% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
Fort Payne works in goods: 33% of its jobs
12,672 jobs are based in Fort Payne.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Payne, 2014 → 2024: 10,014 → 12,672. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Payne’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Fort Payne’s workers travel
About 21% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Fort Payne is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Payne is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns, #84 of 187 in Alabama. Both inputs place Fort Payne near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,154 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). 5.1% of Fort Payne households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fort Payne’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fort Payne compares with U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 248 | Pike Road AL | 11,899 | $117K | 5.1% | 0.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 443 | Chelsea AL | 17,716 | $115K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 622 | Gardendale AL | 16,425 | $82K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,003 | La Grande OR | 12,985 | $58K | 20.9% | 6.1% | 49% | D |
| 2,004 | Mineral Wells TX | 15,983 | $56K | 22.4% | 6.5% | 37% | D |
| 2,005 | Fort Payne AL | 15,189 | $47K | 32.5% | 5.0% | 53% | D |
| 2,006 | Sunnyside WA | 16,430 | $61K | 18.5% | 12.3% | 27% | D |
| 2,007 | Smithfield NC | 13,114 | $43K | 27.3% | 7.2% | 17% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Fort Payne, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Next door to Fort Payne
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Payne workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Payne | – | D | C+ | 17 min | $47,479 |
| Pine Ridge | under 1% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Valley Head | under 1% | — | — | 50 min | — |
| Hammondville | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Pine Ridge, Valley Head and Hammondville: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Payne’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 2024, 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 Fort Payne: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Payne?
$47,479 (±$7,304) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Payne?
32.5%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Payne?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Payne work?
53% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rainsville (5%, 9 mi), Huntsville (4%, 58 mi), Chattanooga (2%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Payne walkable?
Fort Payne is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Payne 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 Fort Payne, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Payne
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.