Lipscomb has lower household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
Only 1% work in Lipscomb itself; outside it, Birmingham draws the most (29%, 10 miles). Below the poverty line: 34.1% of residents, where Alabama as a whole has 15.6%. The two grades for Lipscomb are C for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Lipscomb, in brief
A lot of Lipscomb works one town over
43% of working residents work in a town that borders Lipscomb: Birmingham (29%) and Bessemer (14%). Next door ↓
Lipscomb is a place people come home to
There are 172 jobs based in Lipscomb, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lipscomb has about 1,500 people in it, 28% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Lipscomb workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Lipscomb’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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; with 733 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Lipscomb’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Lipscomb’s grade up (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lipscomb could be anywhere from D to B+.
Lipscomb quiets down on a workday
On a workday 725 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 164 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Lipscomb on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.23 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 2023, primary jobs.
Inside Lipscomb’s 172 jobs
172 jobs are based in Lipscomb.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lipscomb, 2013 → 2023: 152 → 172. 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 Lipscomb’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Lipscomb to work: where people go
Where Lipscomb clocks in
29% of workers
14% of workers
9% 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.
About 25 minutes each way for Lipscomb’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lipscomb workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 835 commuters (the 8% 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.
Miles to work from Lipscomb
About 16% 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.
In Lipscomb, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lipscomb is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns. 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 909 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 66% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 3.3% of Lipscomb households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lipscomb’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700, Lipscomb ranks 3,485th of 5,509 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Indian Springs Village AL | 2,553 | $137K | 3.4% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 398 | Westover AL | 2,121 | $97K | 4.1% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 452 | Trinity AL | 2,638 | $101K | 3.1% | 2.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,483 | Canaan ME | 2,219 | $58K | 12.9% | 3.5% | 4% | C |
| 3,484 | Charenton LA | 1,440 | $63K | 12.3% | 2.5% | 5% | C |
| 3,485 | Lipscomb AL | 2,015 | $42K | 34.1% | 4.3% | 1% | C |
| 3,486 | Waterville MN | 1,757 | $76K | 12.0% | 7.3% | 10% | C |
| 3,487 | Delmont PA | 2,630 | $57K | 10.8% | 10.8% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Lipscomb, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
The towns next door employ 43% of Lipscomb
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lipscomb workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lipscomb | – | C | B− | 25 min | $41,875 |
| Bessemer | 14% | C− | A− | 26 min | $39,613 |
| Birmingham | 29% | C | A | 21 min | $46,051 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Birmingham. Darker towns draw more of Lipscomb’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 Lipscomb: questions
What is the median household income in Lipscomb?
$41,875 (±$14,315) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lipscomb?
34.1%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lipscomb?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lipscomb work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (29%, 10 mi), Bessemer (14%, 5 mi), Hoover (9%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lipscomb walkable?
Lipscomb is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 12.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lipscomb without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 66% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lipscomb, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lipscomb
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.