Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Talladega are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Talladega; the top destination outside it is Birmingham (6%, 41 miles). Poverty touches 25.6% of residents, against 15.6% across Alabama. The two grades for Talladega are D for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Talladega, in a few figures
Talladega trades workers with the towns around it
Talladega has about as many jobs (5,894) as working residents (5,187), but they are mostly different people: 4,023 residents leave for work each day while 4,730 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Talladega are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Talladega’s commute
The biggest draw, Birmingham, gets only 6% of working residents, and 50% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Talladega residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Talladega draws workers from far and wide
The 5,894 jobs in Talladega are filled from a wide area. Talladega’s own residents hold 20% and the ten next-biggest home towns 19%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Talladega
Job access by car holds Talladega’s grade up (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (12.6%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Talladega could be anywhere from D− to D.
In and out of Talladega on a workday
On a workday 4,023 residents head out to work, 1,164 work right here, and 4,730 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.
Where the trip to work from Talladega ends
Where Talladega clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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 Talladega’s employers do
5,894 jobs are based in Talladega.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Talladega, 2013 → 2023: 7,497 → 5,894. 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 Talladega’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Talladega takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Talladega workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,630 commuters (the 3% 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 from Talladega, by distance
About 25% 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 Talladega start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Talladega is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #90 of 187 in Alabama. Both inputs place Talladega 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 4,797 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). 7.6% of Talladega households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Talladega’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Talladega compares with U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 270 | Pike Road AL | 11,899 | $117K | 5.1% | 0.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 481 | Chelsea AL | 17,716 | $115K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 686 | Gardendale AL | 16,425 | $82K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,322 | Greenwood MS | 13,429 | $35K | 28.4% | 7.8% | 48% | D |
| 2,323 | Homosassa Springs FL | 15,701 | $48K | 20.3% | 8.4% | 7% | D |
| 2,324 | Talladega AL | 14,840 | $44K | 25.6% | 12.6% | 22% | D |
| 2,325 | Cleveland MS | 10,138 | $44K | 29.3% | 7.9% | 44% | D |
| 2,326 | Ashtabula OH | 17,474 | $44K | 29.8% | 11.8% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Talladega, 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 Talladega: questions
What is the median household income in Talladega?
$44,198 (±$3,509) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Talladega?
25.6%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Talladega?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Talladega work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (6%, 41 mi), Anniston (4%, 24 mi), Pell City (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Talladega walkable?
Talladega is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Talladega without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Talladega, from the people who make the trip.
More of Talladega
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.