Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainFew U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Monroeville’s
Measured by household income, Monroeville is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 28.8% of residents; Alabama has 15.6%. For jobs and income Monroeville is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Monroeville apart
No single place dominates Monroeville’s commute
The biggest draw, Mobile, gets only 7% of working residents, and 55% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Monroeville residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Few Monroeville 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Monroeville
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monroeville is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #183 of 187 in Alabama. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Monroeville’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monroeville could be anywhere from D− to D.
7% of working residents work in Mobile
Where Monroeville clocks in
7% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
The distance from Monroeville to work
About 41% 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.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Monroeville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monroeville workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,813 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 works in Monroeville, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,542 residents head out to work, 517 work right here, and 2,477 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,700 people are in Monroeville on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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.
What Monroeville’s employers do
2,994 jobs are based in Monroeville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monroeville, 2013 → 2023: 3,801 → 2,994. 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 Monroeville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Monroeville, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,829 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). 5.5% of Monroeville households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Monroeville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Monroeville next to U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 157 | Highland Lakes AL | 5,866 | $169K | 4.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Argo AL | 4,376 | $105K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 270 | Redland AL | 4,982 | $130K | 1.4% | 2.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,515 | Sayre OK | 4,783 | $41K | 43.8% | 14.7% | 27% | D− |
| 3,516 | Fayette AL | 4,060 | $36K | 42.0% | 17.7% | 29% | D− |
| 3,517 | Monroeville AL | 5,758 | $33K | 28.8% | 11.3% | 25% | D− |
| 3,518 | Jackson AL | 4,452 | $38K | 26.1% | 18.4% | 23% | D− |
| 3,519 | Cochran GA | 4,986 | $33K | 32.1% | 12.2% | 16% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,527 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Monroeville, 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 Monroeville: questions
What is the median household income in Monroeville?
$32,513 (±$4,530) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monroeville?
28.8%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monroeville?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monroeville work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mobile (7%, 75 mi), Montgomery (3%, 85 mi), Atmore (2%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monroeville walkable?
Monroeville is more walkable than 40% 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 Monroeville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monroeville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monroeville
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.