Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Most of Skyline commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Skyline report 161 jobs; 351 of its residents have a job. Only 1% work in Skyline itself; outside it, Scottsboro draws the most (30%, 11 miles). Working residents average 26 minutes each way, about the same as across Alabama.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Skyline apart on work
Where Skyline’s working residents head each day
Where Skyline clocks in
30% of workers
23% 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.
In and out of Skyline on a workday
On a workday 347 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 157 people come in from elsewhere.
About 680 people are in Skyline on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
What Skyline’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Skyline, 2013 → 2023: 108 → 161. 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 Skyline’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Skyline takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Skyline workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 321 commuters (the 4% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Skyline
About 21% 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.
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 Skyline: questions
What is the median household income in Skyline?
$44,307 (±$1,374) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Skyline?
18.0%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Skyline?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Skyline work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Scottsboro (30%, 11 mi), Huntsville (23%, 32 mi), Chattanooga (3%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Skyline 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 Skyline, from the people who make the trip.
More of Skyline
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.