Highland Lakes’ household incomes are higher than in 97% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 4.1% of residents, next to 15.6% across Alabama. For jobs and income Highland Lakes is better than 97% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (D). Home is the office for 23% of workers; Alabama has 9%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Highland Lakes
Home offices are common in Highland Lakes
23% of Highland Lakes workers work from home, against 9% across Alabama. Time on the road ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
49% of the jobs in Highland Lakes are in trade, transport and utilities, against 22% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Highland Lakes is a place people come home to
There are 469 jobs based in Highland Lakes, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Highland Lakes has about 4,200 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Why Highland Lakes gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income is its strongest input ($169,361, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Highland Lakes could be anywhere from A− to A+.
About 30 minutes each way for Highland Lakes’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highland Lakes workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,524 commuters (the 23% 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.
69% of the jobs in Highland Lakes pay over $3,333 a month
469 jobs are based in Highland Lakes.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highland Lakes, 2014 → 2024: 236 → 469. 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 Highland Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Highland Lakes
On a workday 2,134 residents head out to work, 27 work right here, and 442 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Highland Lakes on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.22 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 2024, primary jobs.
27% of working residents work in Birmingham
Where Highland Lakes clocks in
27% of workers
14% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Highland Lakes
About 15% 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.
Most trips from Highland Lakes start in a car
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 3,275 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.9% of Highland Lakes households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Highland Lakes’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Highland Lakes ranks: 154th of 3,432 U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Tabernacle Township NJ | 7,014 | $121K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 153 | Penn Township PA | 6,340 | $136K | 2.1% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| 154 | Highland Lakes AL | 5,866 | $169K | 4.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 155 | Mendham NJ | 4,985 | $212K | 3.5% | 3.4% | 4% | A+ |
| 156 | New Hanover Township NJ | 6,237 | $107K | 2.6% | 5.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Argo AL | 4,376 | $105K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Redland AL | 4,982 | $130K | 1.4% | 2.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 377 | Margaret AL | 7,149 | $102K | 3.7% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 3% | 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 Highland Lakes, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Next door is work for 17% of Highland Lakes
The biggest share goes to Hoover (14%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Highland Lakes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Lakes | – | A+ | D | 30 min | $169,361 |
| Chelsea | 3% | A | C | 33 min | $115,337 |
| Hoover | 14% | A | C+ | 25 min | $109,253 |
| Shoal Creek | under 2% | A+ | C− | 32 min | $218,333 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Highland Lakes’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 Highland Lakes: questions
What is the median household income in Highland Lakes?
$169,361 (±$37,963) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highland Lakes?
4.1%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highland Lakes?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highland Lakes work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (27%, 12 mi), Hoover (14%, 9 mi), Homewood (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Highland Lakes walkable?
Highland Lakes is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Highland Lakes without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highland Lakes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highland Lakes
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.