Cleburne County Courthouse · Photo: Wruple · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Heflin trail those of 91% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 17.9% of residents (Alabama 15.6%). Heflin grades D for jobs and income and C− for walkability. About one in five work in Heflin; the top destination outside it is Anniston (11%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Heflin, in brief
Heflin trades workers with the towns around it
Heflin has about as many jobs (1,379) as working residents (1,404), but they are mostly different people: 1,164 residents leave for work each day while 1,139 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Heflin are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Heflin
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Heflin is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #156 of 187 in Alabama. Job access by car holds Heflin’s grade up (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($46,711, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Heflin could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Who works in Heflin, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,164 residents head out to work, 240 work right here, and 1,139 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.98 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Heflin
About 33% 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.
Out of Heflin to work: where people go
Where Heflin clocks in
11% of workers
7% 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 1,379 jobs based in Heflin
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Heflin, 2013 → 2023: 1,241 → 1,379. 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 Heflin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Heflin’s commute takes about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Heflin workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,046 commuters (the 9% 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.
Driving is how Heflin gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Heflin is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns, #117 of 187 in Alabama. 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 1,147 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). 13.6% of Heflin households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Heflin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Heflin sits among U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Indian Springs Village AL | 2,553 | $137K | 3.4% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Eagle Point AL | 3,110 | $152K | 3.2% | 2.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Priceville AL | 3,952 | $117K | 2.2% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,948 | Denning Township IL | 4,628 | $53K | 23.5% | 9.3% | 12% | D |
| 3,949 | Escatawpa MS | 3,494 | $40K | 20.8% | 12.0% | 1% | D |
| 3,950 | Heflin AL | 3,572 | $47K | 17.9% | 6.3% | 17% | D |
| 3,951 | Dennison OH | 2,665 | $52K | 22.9% | 13.2% | 5% | D |
| 3,952 | Post TX | 3,494 | $41K | 9.8% | 8.6% | 33% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Heflin, 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 Heflin: questions
What is the median household income in Heflin?
$46,711 (±$13,216) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Heflin?
17.9%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Heflin?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Heflin work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Anniston (11%, 14 mi), Oxford (7%, 18 mi), Carrollton (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Heflin walkable?
Heflin is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Heflin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Heflin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Heflin
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.