With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Thorsby works elsewhere
464 jobs are based in Thorsby for 850 working residents. Thorsby grades B− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 3% work in Thorsby; the top destination outside it is Birmingham (12%, 42 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Thorsby stands out on work
Thorsby’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Thorsby is Birmingham, 42 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (102) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Thorsby makes and builds things
53% of the jobs based in Thorsby are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Thorsby residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. The jobs ↓
Thorsby workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 26 across Alabama. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. 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; with 850 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Thorsby’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Thorsby is better than 50% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Thorsby’s grade. It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (3.4%) is left out: Thorsby’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, Thorsby could be anywhere from C− to A−.
The commute from Thorsby, by distance
About 18% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 53% of the jobs in Thorsby
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thorsby, 2013 → 2023: 429 → 464. 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 Thorsby’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 35 minutes each way for Thorsby’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thorsby workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 781 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.
Thorsby on a workday afternoon
On a workday 822 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 436 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Thorsby on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
Commuting out of Thorsby: the destinations
Where Thorsby clocks in
12% 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.
Driving is how Thorsby gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thorsby is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 898 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). 2.7% of Thorsby households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thorsby’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,387th of 5,641: where Thorsby ranks among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Indian Springs Village AL | 2,553 | $137K | 3.4% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 423 | Westover AL | 2,121 | $97K | 4.1% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 479 | Trinity AL | 2,638 | $101K | 3.1% | 2.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,385 | Ridgefield Township OH | 2,171 | $70K | 4.6% | 5.9% | 10% | B− |
| 2,386 | Janesville CA | 2,399 | $78K | 7.5% | 2.4% | 0% | B− |
| 2,387 | Thorsby AL | 2,203 | $76K | 8.8% | 3.4% | 3% | B− |
| 2,388 | Charleston AR | 2,760 | $57K | 9.9% | 1.6% | 19% | B− |
| 2,389 | Hayden CO | 2,250 | $91K | 6.6% | 3.9% | 12% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Thorsby, 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 Thorsby: questions
What is the median household income in Thorsby?
$76,389 (±$17,444) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thorsby?
8.8%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thorsby?
35 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thorsby work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Birmingham (12%, 42 mi), Clanton (12%, 8 mi), Alabaster (6%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thorsby walkable?
Thorsby is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thorsby without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thorsby, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thorsby
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.