Photo: DwayneP · CC BY-SA 3.0A job hub: Steele has 2.0 jobs per working resident, and 730 people come in to work
There are 746 jobs in Steele, against 377 working residents. Jobs and income earn Steele B−; getting around on foot earns it D. Only 4% work in Steele; the top destination outside it is Birmingham (16%, 45 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Steele, in brief
Steele’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Steele is Birmingham, 45 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (59) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Steele makes and builds things
76% of the jobs based in Steele are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Steele residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 19%. The jobs ↓
Steele is where the jobs are
Steele has 746 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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 377 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Steele’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Steele is better than 55% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Steele’s grade up (7.0%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($72,386, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (5.7%) is left out: Steele’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Steele could be anywhere from C to A−.
Half of Steele commutes less than 37 miles
About 27% 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.
A place that makes things: 76% of Steele’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Steele, 2013 → 2023: 581 → 746. 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 Steele’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Steele
On a workday 361 residents head out to work and 16 work right here.
About 1,400 people are in Steele on a workday afternoon, 37% more 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.
The towns that send workers to Steele
Where Steele clocks in
16% of workers
8% of workers
6% 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 37 minutes each way for Steele’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Steele workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 407 commuters (the 7% 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.
Few in Steele walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Steele is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Steele 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 439 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). 0.8% of Steele households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Steele’s commuters take a bus or train.
Steele places 886th of 3,133 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Shoal Creek AL | 1,328 | $218K | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Rock Creek AL | 1,103 | $84K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 162 | Blue Ridge AL | 1,190 | $128K | 6.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 884 | Burgettstown PA | 1,390 | $53K | 5.7% | 6.6% | 3% | B |
| 885 | Aurora UT | 1,062 | $91K | 4.6% | 1.2% | 2% | B |
| 886 | Steele AL | 1,004 | $72K | 7.0% | 5.7% | 4% | B− |
| 887 | Liberty Township IN | 1,010 | $85K | 6.5% | 0.5% | <1% | B− |
| 888 | Union Township PA | 1,244 | $85K | 7.9% | 4.2% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Steele, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Around Steele: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Rainbow City (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Steele workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steele | – | B− | D | 37 min | $72,386 |
| Rainbow City | 3% | C− | C+ | 27 min | $56,398 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Steele’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 Steele: questions
What is the median household income in Steele?
$72,386 (±$19,086) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Steele?
7.0%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Steele?
37 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Steele work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (16%, 45 mi), Gadsden (8%, 11 mi), Ashville (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Steele walkable?
Steele is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Steele 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 Steele, from the people who make the trip.
More of Steele
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.