Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainHousehold incomes in Montgomery trail those of 79% of U.S. towns
About two in three stay in Montgomery for work; outside it, Prattville is the main destination (2%, 13 miles). Below the poverty line: 21.5% of residents, next to 15.6% across Alabama. Montgomery grades 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
Work in Montgomery, in a few figures
Montgomery is where the jobs are
Montgomery has 115,030 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Montgomery are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across Alabama. That’s about 38 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.
Montgomery’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Montgomery is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #117 of 187 in Alabama. Job access by car holds Montgomery’s grade up (ahead of 76% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Montgomery could be anywhere from C− to C.
Who leaves Montgomery for work, and who comes in
On a workday 25,326 residents head out to work, 44,819 work right here, and 70,211 people come in from elsewhere.
About 240,000 people are in Montgomery on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Montgomery
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montgomery workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 77,758 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.
Where Montgomery’s workers come from
Where Montgomery clocks in
2% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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.
What Montgomery’s employers do
115,030 jobs are based in Montgomery.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montgomery, 2013 → 2023: 114,187 → 115,030. 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 Montgomery’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Montgomery to work
About 20% 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 Montgomery, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Montgomery is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #13 of 187 in Alabama. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 84,515 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 82% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 82% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 63% 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). 7.0% of Montgomery households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Montgomery’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
For jobs and income, Montgomery is 127th of 146 U.S. towns of 137,000 to 264,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 26% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Huntsville AL | 233,627 | $75K | 12.6% | 4.1% | 66% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Mobile AL | 200,824 | $54K | 18.4% | 5.6% | 62% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 125 | Bridgeport CT | 152,273 | $59K | 21.0% | 9.0% | 21% | C |
| 126 | Birmingham AL | 195,893 | $46K | 24.7% | 5.8% | 44% | C |
| 127 | Montgomery AL | 195,300 | $57K | 21.5% | 6.4% | 64% | C |
| 128 | Columbus GA | 202,171 | $58K | 19.0% | 6.3% | 59% | C |
| 129 | Savannah GA | 149,440 | $57K | 19.7% | 7.2% | 51% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 146 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Montgomery, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Montgomery and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Montgomery workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery | – | C | B+ | 21 min | $56,811 |
| Pike Road | under 1% | A | D− | 27 min | $117,091 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Montgomery’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 Montgomery: questions
What is the median household income in Montgomery?
$56,811 (±$2,312) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montgomery?
21.5%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montgomery?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Montgomery work?
64% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Prattville (2%, 13 mi), Birmingham (2%, 87 mi), Huntsville (1%, 164 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Montgomery walkable?
Montgomery is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montgomery without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 82% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montgomery, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montgomery
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.