First United Methodist Church · Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Wetumpka (8.9%) is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Wetumpka for work; outside it, Montgomery is the main destination (42%, 14 miles). For jobs and income Wetumpka is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (C−). Measured by household income, Wetumpka is behind 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Wetumpka in brief
42% of Wetumpka works in Montgomery
1,218 working residents, 42%, have their main job in Montgomery, 14 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Wetumpka itself. The commute map ↓
Wetumpka is where the jobs are
Wetumpka has 5,482 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Wetumpka draws workers from far and wide
The 5,482 jobs in Wetumpka are filled from a wide area. Wetumpka’s own residents hold 8% and the ten next-biggest home towns 35%; the other 57% 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.
The figures behind Wetumpka’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Wetumpka’s grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wetumpka could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The daily trip into Wetumpka
Where Wetumpka clocks in
42% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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 and out of Wetumpka on a workday
On a workday 2,467 residents head out to work, 461 work right here, and 5,021 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Wetumpka on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Inside Wetumpka’s 5,482 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wetumpka, 2013 → 2023: 5,338 → 5,482. 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 Wetumpka’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Wetumpka spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wetumpka workers work from home, vs 9% across Alabama. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,787 commuters (the 8% 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 distance from Wetumpka to work
About 20% 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.
In Wetumpka, the car does most of the work
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 3,019 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). 6.3% of Wetumpka households have no vehicle (Alabama 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wetumpka’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wetumpka is 2,359th of 3,071 U.S. towns of 5,300 to 10,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 147 | Meadowbrook AL | 9,117 | $142K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 159 | Highland Lakes AL | 5,866 | $169K | 4.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 390 | Brook Highland AL | 8,146 | $80K | 4.6% | 0.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,357 | Watertown NY | 5,364 | $70K | 7.5% | 11.0% | 11% | C |
| 2,358 | Old Orchard Beach ME | 9,533 | $60K | 14.9% | 6.8% | 9% | C |
| 2,359 | Wetumpka AL | 7,535 | $58K | 9.9% | 8.9% | 16% | C |
| 2,360 | Orange VA | 5,365 | $76K | 14.1% | 6.7% | 21% | C |
| 2,361 | Busti NY | 7,369 | $67K | 14.4% | 5.4% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,071 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Wetumpka, the top three, the last and three more from Alabama.
Around Wetumpka: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wetumpka workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wetumpka | – | C | C− | 27 min | $57,763 |
| Blue Ridge | under 1% | A | B− | 34 min | $128,482 |
| Redland | under 1% | A | D | 24 min | $130,278 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wetumpka’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 Wetumpka: questions
What is the median household income in Wetumpka?
$57,763 (±$9,705) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,999 across Alabama and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wetumpka?
9.9%, against 15.6% across Alabama and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wetumpka?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Alabama and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wetumpka work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Montgomery (42%, 14 mi), Prattville (3%, 16 mi), Birmingham (3%, 76 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wetumpka walkable?
Wetumpka is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wetumpka without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wetumpka, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wetumpka
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.