Old Jail · Photo: Mthunter58 · CC BY-SA 4.0Gordo’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 12% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability D: more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 30 minutes each way (Alabama 26, U.S. 26). Only 5% work in Gordo; the top destination outside it is Tuscaloosa (27%, 22 miles).
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 Gordo
Gordo’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Gordo is Tuscaloosa, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 27% of working residents (175) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Gordo than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Gordo fell from 468 in 2013 to 347 in 2023, −26%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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; with 658 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Gordo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Gordo is better than 12% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Gordo’s grade up (14.9%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($47,569, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Gordo’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Gordo could be anywhere from D to C−.
Half of Gordo commutes less than 23 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 28% 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.
What the 347 jobs in Gordo are
347 jobs are based in Gordo. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Gordo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gordo, 2013 → 2023: 468 → 347. 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.
Gordo quiets down on a workday
On a workday 628 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 317 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Gordo on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.53 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.
27% of working residents work in Tuscaloosa
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Gordo clocks in
7% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Alabama
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gordo workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 777 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.
Most trips from Gordo start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gordo is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Gordo 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 807 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). 7.6% of Gordo households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gordo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gordo is 4,691st of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Gordo, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Shoal Creek AL | 1,328 | $218K | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 377 | Rock Creek AL | 1,103 | $84K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 408 | Blue Ridge AL | 1,190 | $128K | 6.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,689 | Valley Township OH | 2,030 | $56K | 16.0% | 7.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,690 | Unionville GA | 2,000 | $53K | 31.8% | 10.5% | 0% | D |
| 4,691 | Gordo AL | 1,553 | $48K | 14.9% | 2.8% | 5% | D |
| 4,692 | Colbert OK | 1,118 | $46K | 24.8% | 6.9% | 4% | D |
| 4,693 | Ninety Six SC | 2,089 | $55K | 22.6% | 7.2% | 6% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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.
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 Gordo: questions
What is the median household income in Gordo?
$47,569 (±$5,830) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gordo?
14.9%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gordo?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gordo work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tuscaloosa (27%, 22 mi), Northport (7%, 18 mi), Birmingham (3%, 65 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gordo walkable?
Gordo is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gordo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gordo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gordo
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.