Photo: Myself - Nathon Morris · Public domainVernon’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
For jobs and income Vernon is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (B+). Measured by household income, Vernon is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 34.8% of residents live below the poverty line, against 15.6% across Alabama.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Vernon: the gist
Vernon is where the jobs are
Vernon has 1,466 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 798 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Vernon
On income, poverty and job access, Vernon is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Vernon’s grade.
Unemployment (12.1%) is left out: Vernon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Vernon stays D−.
How many people are in Vernon by day
On a workday 594 residents head out to work, 204 work right here, and 1,262 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Vernon on a workday afternoon, 37% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
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 in the region Vernon works
About 33% 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.
Who travels to work in Vernon, and from where
Where Vernon clocks in
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.
In Vernon, 32% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
1,466 jobs are based in Vernon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vernon, 2013 → 2023: 1,215 → 1,466. 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 Vernon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way, quicker than most of Alabama
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vernon workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 543 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.
Most trips from Vernon start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 561 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). 18.4% of Vernon households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Vernon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Vernon sits among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Shoal Creek AL | 1,328 | $218K | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 382 | Westover AL | 2,121 | $97K | 4.1% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 501 | Vance AL | 2,332 | $95K | 7.3% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,571 | Thoreau NM | 1,973 | $45K | 27.5% | 10.8% | 6% | D− |
| 5,572 | Lake Medina Shores TX | 1,411 | $47K | 31.1% | 6.8% | <1% | D− |
| 5,573 | Vernon AL | 1,823 | $28K | 34.8% | 12.1% | 26% | D− |
| 5,574 | Calico Rock AR | 2,003 | $27K | 30.0% | 1.9% | 23% | D− |
| 5,575 | Jenkins KY | 1,733 | $27K | 32.3% | 6.0% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Vernon, 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 Vernon: questions
What is the median household income in Vernon?
$27,967 (±$7,680) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vernon?
34.8%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vernon?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vernon work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (7%, 24 mi), Fayette (4%, 17 mi), Sulligent (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vernon walkable?
Vernon is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vernon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vernon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vernon
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.