Shady Grove Methodist Church and Cemetery · Photo: Therianthrope · CC BY-SA 3.0Work and commuting in West Point
Only 1% work in West Point itself; outside it, Cullman draws the most (26%, 8 miles). Home is the office for 1% of workers, where Alabama as a whole has 9%. Working residents average 28 minutes each way; Alabama averages 26, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in West Point: the figures worth knowing
Where West Point’s working residents head each day
Where West Point clocks in
26% of workers
7% 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.
How a workday changes West Point
On a workday 296 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 409 people come in from elsewhere.
About 770 people are in West Point on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 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.
The 412 jobs based in West Point
412 jobs are based in West Point.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in West Point, 2013 → 2023: 328 → 412. 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 West Point’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 28 minutes in West Point
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of West Point workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 261 commuters (the 1% 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.
Half of West Point commutes less than 14 miles
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.
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 West Point: questions
What is the median household income in West Point?
$68,365 (±$10,725) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in West Point?
10.1%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from West Point?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in West Point work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cullman (26%, 8 mi), Huntsville (7%, 36 mi), Good Hope (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around West Point without a car?
2% 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 West Point, from the people who make the trip.
More of West Point
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.