Tanner Farmhouse · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Mobile draws more than half of Semmes’ working residents
Measured by household income, Semmes is behind 64% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Semmes is better than 23% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (C+). Working residents average 24 minutes each way, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Semmes, in brief
More than half of Semmes works in Mobile
1,351 working residents, 54%, have their main job in Mobile, 12 miles away across the town line. That’s 18 times as many as work in Semmes itself. The commute map ↓
Semmes has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Semmes went from 1,139 in 2013 to 2,018 in 2023, +77%. The jobs ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
42% of the jobs in Semmes are in trade, transport and utilities, against 23% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Semmes
56% of Semmes residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 38% of the jobs based in Semmes pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Semmes
Job access by car holds Semmes’ grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (22.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Semmes could be anywhere from D to B+.
Where Semmes goes to work
Where Semmes clocks in
54% 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 work there is in Semmes: 2,018 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Semmes, 2013 → 2023: 1,139 → 2,018. 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 Semmes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Semmes: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,416 residents head out to work, 65 work right here, and 1,953 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 (0.81 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.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Semmes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Semmes workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,204 commuters (the 13% 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 many miles Semmes commutes
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.
For most of Semmes, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 2,523 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). 5.9% of Semmes households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Semmes’ commuters take a bus or train.
Semmes is 2,664th of 3,297 U.S. towns of 4,400 to 8,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 148 | Highland Lakes AL | 5,866 | $169K | 4.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 256 | Redland AL | 4,982 | $130K | 1.4% | 2.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 364 | Brook Highland AL | 8,146 | $80K | 4.6% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,662 | St. Martin MS | 8,139 | $55K | 17.2% | 6.7% | 3% | C− |
| 2,663 | Crosby TX | 4,617 | $59K | 36.8% | 9.9% | 2% | C− |
| 2,664 | Semmes AL | 6,259 | $66K | 22.5% | 6.8% | 3% | C− |
| 2,665 | Carmi Township IL | 6,003 | $53K | 18.8% | 2.7% | 29% | C− |
| 2,666 | Kenai AK | 7,924 | $87K | 13.2% | 7.4% | — | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,297 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Semmes, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Next door is work for 54% of Semmes
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Mobile. Darker towns draw more of Semmes’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 Semmes: questions
What is the median household income in Semmes?
$66,417 (±$8,337) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Semmes?
22.5%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Semmes?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Semmes work?
3% work in town.
Is Semmes walkable?
Semmes is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Semmes 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 Semmes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Semmes
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.