Jacob Magee House · Photo: Altairisfar (Jeffrey Reed) · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Prichard have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Prichard D; getting around on foot earns it B. The poverty rate is 30.6%, next to 15.6% for Alabama as a whole. Only 4% work in Prichard; the top destination outside it is Mobile (51%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Prichard: the gist
Much of Prichard works one town over
55% of working residents work in a town that borders Prichard: Mobile (51%) and Saraland (4%). Next door ↓
Fewer than half of Prichard workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Prichard’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% 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.
Prichard’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Prichard is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #152 of 187 in Alabama. Job access by car holds Prichard’s grade up (ahead of 74% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($36,588, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Prichard could be anywhere from D to C−.
The 3,506 jobs based in Prichard
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prichard, 2013 → 2023: 4,366 → 3,506. 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 Prichard’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Prichard quiets down on a workday
On a workday 6,680 residents head out to work, 247 work right here, and 3,259 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Prichard on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.51 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.
Where Prichard’s working residents head each day
Where Prichard clocks in
51% 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.
About 25 minutes each way for Prichard’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prichard workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,492 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 it is to work from Prichard
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.
Prichard is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Prichard is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #27 of 187 in Alabama. Both inputs place Prichard 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 5,846 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). 9.8% of Prichard households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Prichard’s commuters take a bus or train.
Prichard and other U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Helena AL | 23,388 | $115K | 3.2% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 393 | Chelsea AL | 17,716 | $115K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,832 | Altus OK | 18,707 | $55K | 17.4% | 6.5% | 55% | D |
| 1,833 | Beeville TX | 13,086 | $51K | 22.1% | 5.1% | 30% | D |
| 1,834 | Prichard AL | 18,825 | $37K | 30.6% | 10.1% | 4% | D |
| 1,835 | Dyersburg TN | 15,906 | $52K | 21.6% | 7.4% | 46% | D |
| 1,836 | Charleston IL | 17,466 | $49K | 26.3% | 6.1% | 31% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | 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 Prichard, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Next door is work for 55% of Prichard
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Mobile. Darker towns draw more of Prichard’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 Prichard: questions
What is the median household income in Prichard?
$36,588 (±$4,417) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prichard?
30.6%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prichard?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prichard work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mobile (51%, 7 mi), Saraland (4%, 6 mi), Daphne (2%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Prichard walkable?
Prichard is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Prichard without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prichard, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prichard
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.