Claybank Log Church · Photo: Katie Pollock · CC BY-SA 4.0At 9.1%, unemployment in Ozark is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Ozark are D for jobs and income and C− for walkability. About one in four work in Ozark itself; outside it, Dothan draws the most (21%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Ozark: the gist
The four measures behind Ozark’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ozark is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #171 of 187 in Alabama. Job access by car holds Ozark’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (28.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ozark could be anywhere from D− to D.
The workday shuffle in and out of Ozark
On a workday 3,717 residents head out to work, 1,214 work right here, and 3,398 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 (0.94 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.
Where the trip to work from Ozark ends
Where Ozark clocks in
21% of workers
5% 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.
Inside Ozark’s 4,612 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ozark, 2013 → 2023: 4,474 → 4,612. 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 Ozark’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Ozark’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ozark workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,470 commuters (the 6% 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.
How far Ozark goes to work
About 22% 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.
Most trips from Ozark start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ozark is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns, #133 of 187 in Alabama. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of 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 4,738 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). 6.4% of Ozark households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Ozark’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ozark and other U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 253 | Pike Road AL | 11,899 | $117K | 5.1% | 0.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 447 | Chelsea AL | 17,716 | $115K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 637 | Gardendale AL | 16,425 | $82K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,202 | Aberdeen WA | 17,088 | $52K | 23.8% | 10.0% | 26% | D |
| 2,203 | Natchitoches LA | 17,146 | $37K | 35.9% | 7.1% | 46% | D |
| 2,204 | Ozark AL | 14,269 | $49K | 28.1% | 9.1% | 25% | D |
| 2,205 | Cedartown GA | 10,514 | $35K | 30.7% | 6.8% | 19% | D |
| 2,206 | Blytheville AR | 12,227 | $48K | 24.2% | 9.2% | 37% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Ozark, 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 Ozark: questions
What is the median household income in Ozark?
$48,944 (±$5,768) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ozark?
28.1%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ozark?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ozark work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dothan (21%, 21 mi), Enterprise (5%, 15 mi), Montgomery (3%, 72 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ozark walkable?
Ozark is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ozark without a car?
1% 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 Ozark, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ozark
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.