Photo: Ecjmartin1 · Public domainNewton has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Hardly any work in Newton itself; outside it, Dothan draws the most (42%, 13 miles). 100 jobs are based in Newton for 635 working residents. Newton grades C− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Newton at work: what stands out
42% of Newton works in Dothan
264 working residents, 42%, have their main job in Dothan, 13 miles away. That’s 42 times as many as work in Newton itself. The commute map ↓
Newton is a place people come home to
There are 100 jobs based in Newton, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Newton has about 1,100 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 635 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Newton: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Newton is better than 23% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Newton’s grade.
Unemployment (3.0%) is left out: Newton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Newton could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where Newton goes to work
Where Newton clocks in
42% of workers
3% 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.
Newton by day and by night
On a workday 631 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 96 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Newton on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
The kinds of work in Newton
100 jobs are based in Newton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Newton, 2013 → 2023: 231 → 100. 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 Newton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Newton: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Newton workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 432 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 Newton
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.
Newton is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Newton is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Newton near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 470 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). 6.3% of Newton households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Newton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Newton places 3,631st of 5,381 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Shoal Creek AL | 1,328 | $218K | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 335 | Westover AL | 2,121 | $97K | 4.1% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 888 | Smoke Rise AL | 1,471 | $86K | 5.5% | 8.6% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,629 | Clay Township OH | 1,516 | $71K | 11.7% | 7.2% | 1% | C− |
| 3,630 | Tonopah NV | 1,910 | $47K | 4.9% | 0.0% | 34% | C− |
| 3,631 | Newton AL | 1,652 | $60K | 15.0% | 3.0% | 1% | C− |
| 3,632 | Colstrip MT | 2,091 | $83K | 9.4% | 8.2% | 41% | C− |
| 3,633 | Forest OH | 1,332 | $56K | 11.5% | 2.5% | 9% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Newton, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Newton and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Pinckard (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Newton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newton | – | C− | C | 26 min | $60,030 |
| Pinckard | 1% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Pinckard: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Newton’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 Newton: questions
What is the median household income in Newton?
$60,030 (±$12,809) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Newton?
15.0%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Newton?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Newton work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dothan (42%, 13 mi), Ozark (7%, 8 mi), Enterprise (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Newton walkable?
Newton is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Newton 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 Newton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Newton
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.