Household incomes in Lincoln are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Lincoln is better than 38% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (D). 1% of workers work from home; Alabama has 9%. About one in ten work in Lincoln itself; outside it, Birmingham draws the most (10%, 39 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lincoln: the figures worth knowing
Lincoln’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lincoln is Birmingham, 39 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (304) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Lincoln has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Lincoln went from 2,305 in 2013 to 3,622 in 2023, +57%. The jobs ↓
Few Lincoln workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 9% across Alabama. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Lincoln gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Lincoln’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($57,145, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lincoln could be anywhere from C− to B.
The commute from Lincoln, by distance
About 19% 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 work there is in Lincoln: 3,622 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lincoln, 2013 → 2023: 2,305 → 3,622. 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 Lincoln’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Lincoln: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lincoln workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,157 commuters (the 1% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 2,674 residents head out to work, 260 work right here, and 3,362 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 (1.23 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.
Out of Lincoln to work: where people go
Where Lincoln clocks in
10% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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.
Most of Lincoln commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,192 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). 3.4% of Lincoln households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lincoln’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lincoln places 2,051st of 2,966 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,700 to 10,900
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 144 | Meadowbrook AL | 9,117 | $142K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | Highland Lakes AL | 5,866 | $169K | 4.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 387 | Brook Highland AL | 8,146 | $80K | 4.6% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,049 | Blooming Grove Township PA | 5,751 | $85K | 4.4% | 8.1% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,050 | Sans Souci SC | 7,665 | $45K | 15.9% | 3.9% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,051 | Lincoln AL | 8,110 | $57K | 15.6% | 3.5% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,052 | Union Township OH | 8,028 | $58K | 12.1% | 2.2% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,053 | Champion Heights OH | 6,380 | $68K | 12.2% | 6.2% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,966 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Lincoln, 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 Lincoln: questions
What is the median household income in Lincoln?
$57,145 (±$6,781) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lincoln?
15.6%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lincoln?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lincoln work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (10%, 39 mi), Pell City (9%, 8 mi), Talladega (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lincoln walkable?
Lincoln is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lincoln without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lincoln, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lincoln
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.