Households in Reform have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 43.8% of residents, next to 15.6% for Alabama as a whole. The two grades for Reform are D− for jobs and income and D for walkability. 1% of workers work from home, against 9% across Alabama.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Reform: the gist
Reform’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Reform is Tuscaloosa, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (85) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% 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 ↓
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 533 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Reform’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Reform is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Reform’s grade.
Unemployment (7.9%) is left out: Reform’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Reform stays D−.
How many miles Reform commutes
About 37% 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 and out of Reform on a workday
On a workday 493 residents head out to work, 40 work right here, and 566 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 (1.14 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.
16% of working residents work in Tuscaloosa
Where Reform clocks in
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.
Services make up most of the work in Reform
606 jobs are based in Reform.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Reform, 2013 → 2023: 612 → 606. 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 Reform’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Reform
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Reform workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 514 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.
The commute in Reform is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Reform is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 521 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). 10.5% of Reform households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Reform’s commuters take a bus or train.
Reform and other U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Shoal Creek AL | 1,328 | $218K | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 340 | Rock Creek AL | 1,103 | $84K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 373 | Blue Ridge AL | 1,190 | $128K | 6.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,799 | Taos Pueblo NM | 1,129 | $39K | 49.1% | 21.7% | 3% | D− |
| 5,800 | Frisco City AL | 1,089 | $36K | 26.8% | 21.4% | 2% | D− |
| 5,801 | Reform AL | 1,432 | $34K | 43.8% | 7.9% | 8% | D− |
| 5,802 | Clio AL | 1,202 | $29K | 38.9% | 12.5% | 6% | D− |
| 5,803 | Salyersville KY | 1,502 | $21K | 58.2% | 7.1% | 25% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Reform, 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 Reform: questions
What is the median household income in Reform?
$33,578 (±$14,568) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Reform?
43.8%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Reform?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Reform work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tuscaloosa (16%, 30 mi), Northport (5%, 26 mi), Birmingham (3%, 71 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Reform walkable?
Reform is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Reform without a car?
0% 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 Reform, from the people who make the trip.
More of Reform
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.