Photo: CarolinePope22 · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Southside works elsewhere
For jobs and income Southside is better than 70% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (C−). 922 jobs are based in Southside; 3,365 of its residents have a job. Only 5% stay in Southside for work; outside it, Gadsden is the main destination (29%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Southside and work: the main findings
Southside and Gadsden trade workers both ways
Gadsden is the top workplace for Southside residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Southside come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Southside is a place people come home to
There are 922 jobs based in Southside, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Southside has about 7,300 people in it, 25% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Southside workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 9% across Alabama. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Southside’s grade explained
The poverty rate holds Southside’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Southside could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The places Southside commutes to
Where Southside clocks in
29% of workers
5% 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.
Southside by day and by night
On a workday 3,184 residents head out to work, 181 work right here, and 741 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,300 people are in Southside on a workday afternoon, 25% 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.
About 26 minutes each way for Southside’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Southside workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,346 commuters (the 2% 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.
Jobs in Southside: what the 922 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Southside, 2013 → 2023: 718 → 922. 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 Southside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Southside
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 Southside start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 4,444 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). 1.4% of Southside households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Southside’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 6,800 to 13,100, Southside ranks 1,104th of 2,780 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Meadowbrook AL | 9,117 | $142K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 296 | Pike Road AL | 11,899 | $117K | 5.1% | 0.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 388 | Brook Highland AL | 8,146 | $80K | 4.6% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,102 | Woodlawn MD | 7,750 | $93K | 5.3% | 10.9% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,103 | Seffner FL | 8,885 | $93K | 11.7% | 4.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,104 | Southside AL | 9,718 | $76K | 4.4% | 2.9% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,105 | Great Neck Plaza NY | 7,889 | $92K | 8.6% | 6.2% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,106 | Unionville NC | 7,322 | $96K | 9.4% | 4.1% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,780 | 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 Southside, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Work in the towns next to Southside
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Southside’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 Southside: questions
What is the median household income in Southside?
$76,487 (±$5,353) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Southside?
4.4%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Southside?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Southside work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gadsden (29%, 8 mi), Rainbow City (7%, 5 mi), Anniston (5%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Southside walkable?
Southside is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Southside without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Southside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Southside
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.