Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Leighton has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Only 2% work in Leighton itself; outside it, Muscle Shoals draws the most (23%, 7 miles). Employers in Leighton report 65 jobs, against 240 working residents. For 2% of workers, the job is at home, where Alabama as a whole has 9%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Leighton at work: what stands out
Leighton and Muscle Shoals trade workers both ways
Muscle Shoals is the top workplace for Leighton residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Leighton come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Leighton is a place people come home to
There are 65 jobs based in Leighton, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Leighton has about 490 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Leighton are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 26 across Alabama. That’s about 84 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; with 240 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where the trip to work from Leighton ends
Where Leighton clocks in
10% 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.
Who commutes out of Leighton, and who commutes in
On a workday 236 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 61 people come in from elsewhere.
About 490 people are in Leighton on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Alabama
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Leighton workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 474 commuters (the 2% 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.
In Leighton, 32% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leighton, 2013 → 2023: 101 → 65. 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 Leighton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Leighton to work
About 21% 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.
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 Leighton: questions
What is the median household income in Leighton?
$33,894 (±$17,950) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leighton?
24.0%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leighton?
15 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leighton work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Muscle Shoals (23%, 7 mi), Florence (10%, 12 mi), Huntsville (8%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Leighton without a car?
0% 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 Leighton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leighton
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.