Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Gadsden have lower incomes than those in 96% of U.S. towns
About two in five stay in Gadsden for work; outside it, Birmingham is the main destination (5%, 56 miles). 28.1% of residents are in poverty, against 15.6% across Alabama. Gadsden grades D 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 and commuting in Gadsden, in brief
Gadsden is where the jobs are
Gadsden has 20,459 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Gadsden workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Gadsden’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Gadsden are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across Alabama. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Alabama 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.
What’s behind Gadsden’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gadsden is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #153 of 187 in Alabama. Job access by car holds Gadsden’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($40,345, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gadsden could be anywhere from D to C−.
Who works in Gadsden, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 7,065 residents head out to work, 4,781 work right here, and 15,678 people come in from elsewhere.
About 42,000 people are in Gadsden on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.7 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 2023, primary jobs.
What Gadsden’s employers do
20,459 jobs are based in Gadsden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gadsden, 2013 → 2023: 22,764 → 20,459. 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 Gadsden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 21 minutes in Gadsden
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gadsden workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,836 commuters (the 4% 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.
Commuting in to Gadsden: where workers come from
Where Gadsden clocks in
5% of workers
3% 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 distance from Gadsden to work
About 26% 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 Gadsden commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gadsden is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #44 of 187 in Alabama. Both inputs place Gadsden 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 12,354 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). 7.4% of Gadsden households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gadsden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gadsden next to U.S. towns of 23,000 to 45,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Trussville AL | 27,273 | $123K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Helena AL | 23,388 | $115K | 3.2% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 229 | Vestavia Hills AL | 38,306 | $134K | 10.0% | 1.9% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,289 | Zanesville OH | 25,138 | $43K | 24.1% | 7.4% | 31% | D |
| 1,290 | Warren OH | 38,328 | $38K | 31.9% | 9.4% | 18% | D |
| 1,291 | Gadsden AL | 33,367 | $40K | 28.1% | 7.2% | 40% | D |
| 1,292 | Saginaw MI | 42,863 | $39K | 34.0% | 10.1% | 21% | D |
| 1,293 | Nacogdoches TX | 32,500 | $39K | 31.5% | 8.2% | 42% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,315 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Gadsden, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Next door to Gadsden
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gadsden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gadsden | – | D | B− | 21 min | $40,345 |
| Rainbow City | 5% | C− | C+ | 27 min | $56,398 |
| Attalla | 3% | C | C | 22 min | $59,215 |
| Glencoe | under 2% | B− | B− | 28 min | $68,517 |
| Tidmore Bend | under 2% | C | C | 20 min | $60,729 |
| Reece City | under 2% | — | — | 45 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Reece City: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Rainbow City. Darker towns draw more of Gadsden’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 Gadsden: questions
What is the median household income in Gadsden?
$40,345 (±$2,977) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gadsden?
28.1%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gadsden?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gadsden work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (5%, 56 mi), Rainbow City (5%, 7 mi), Attalla (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gadsden walkable?
Gadsden is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gadsden without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gadsden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gadsden
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.