Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company Residential Historic District · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Century’s
Poverty touches 22.1% of residents; Florida has 12.6%. Measured by household income, Century is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Century grades 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
Century at work: what stands out
Century’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Century is Pensacola, 37 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (46) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Century
53% of Century residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 28% of the jobs based in Century pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 365 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Century’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Century is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Century’s grade.
Unemployment (7.6%) is left out: Century’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, Century stays D−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Century
About 30% 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 Century’s employers do
370 jobs are based in Century.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Century, 2013 → 2023: 398 → 370. 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 Century’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Century on a workday
On a workday 342 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 347 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 (1.01 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.
13% of working residents work in Pensacola
Where Century clocks in
13% 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.
About 31 minutes to work from Century
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Century workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 776 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% 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.
In Century, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Century is more walkable than 36% 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 3.6% across Florida.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 796 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 54% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 48% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.1% of Century households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Century’s commuters take a bus or train.
Century next to U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Atlantis FL | 2,140 | $117K | 3.6% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Old Miakka FL | 1,818 | $137K | 2.0% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Lake Mary Jane FL | 1,792 | $146K | 0.0% | 3.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,276 | Camden AL | 1,646 | $36K | 25.5% | 15.1% | 29% | D− |
| 5,277 | Hamburg AR | 2,364 | $34K | 32.5% | 4.4% | 19% | D− |
| 5,278 | Century FL | 1,799 | $28K | 22.1% | 7.6% | 6% | D− |
| 5,279 | Durant MS | 1,958 | $30K | 31.8% | 0.0% | 6% | D− |
| 5,280 | Morton TX | 1,689 | $38K | 26.7% | 5.3% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | 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 Century, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
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 Century: questions
What is the median household income in Century?
$27,609 (±$9,400) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Century?
22.1%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Century?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Century work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pensacola (13%, 37 mi), Ferry Pass (4%, 32 mi), East Milton (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Century walkable?
Century is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Century without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Century, from the people who make the trip.
More of Century
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.