At 2.6%, unemployment in Leeds is lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Leeds are B for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in ten stay in Leeds for work; outside it, Birmingham is the main destination (29%, 13 miles). Commuters spend 27 minutes getting to work on average, next to 26 for Alabama and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Leeds
Leeds trades workers with the towns around it
Leeds has about as many jobs (4,775) as working residents (5,264), but they are mostly different people: 4,738 residents leave for work each day while 4,249 people come in. Only 11% of the jobs in Leeds are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Leeds works one town over
37% of working residents work in a town that borders Leeds: Birmingham (29%), Irondale (4%) and Moody (4%). Next door ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
41% of the jobs in Leeds are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. 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.
Jobs & income in Leeds: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Leeds is better than 63% of U.S. towns, #51 of 187 in Alabama. Job access by car holds Leeds’ grade up (ahead of 80% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Leeds could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Who works in Leeds, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 4,738 residents head out to work, 526 work right here, and 4,249 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 (0.91 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.
The kinds of work in Leeds
4,775 jobs are based in Leeds.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leeds, 2013 → 2023: 3,880 → 4,775. 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 Leeds’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Leeds goes to work
Where Leeds clocks in
29% of workers
8% 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.
From Leeds, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Leeds workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,492 commuters (the 6% 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.
How many miles Leeds commutes
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.
Leeds is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Leeds is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns, #88 of 187 in Alabama. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% of 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 5,872 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). 3.1% of Leeds households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Leeds’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000, Leeds ranks 1,177th of 2,354 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Meadowbrook AL | 9,117 | $142K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 262 | Pike Road AL | 11,899 | $117K | 5.1% | 0.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 653 | Gardendale AL | 16,425 | $82K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,175 | Murraysville NC | 16,339 | $81K | 4.5% | 5.8% | 4% | B |
| 1,176 | Antioch IL | 15,000 | $109K | 7.9% | 8.2% | 9% | B |
| 1,177 | Leeds AL | 12,831 | $70K | 12.8% | 2.6% | 10% | B |
| 1,178 | Heath OH | 10,859 | $72K | 8.6% | 3.7% | 11% | B |
| 1,179 | South Union Township PA | 10,300 | $78K | 8.3% | 3.1% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Leeds, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Work next door: 37% of Leeds’ workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Leeds workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leeds | – | B | C | 27 min | $69,737 |
| Birmingham | 29% | C | A | 21 min | $46,051 |
| Irondale | 4% | C+ | C | 22 min | $72,343 |
| Dunnavant | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Moody | 4% | B | C | 27 min | $86,627 |
Same-state neighbors only. Dunnavant: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Birmingham. Darker towns draw more of Leeds’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 Leeds: questions
What is the median household income in Leeds?
$69,737 (±$4,662) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leeds?
12.8%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leeds?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leeds work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (29%, 13 mi), Hoover (8%, 18 mi), Homewood (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Leeds walkable?
Leeds is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Leeds 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 Leeds, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leeds
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.