Wabaunsee County Courthouse · Photo: Dylan Edwards · CC BY 4.0Jobs and earnings in Alma, and the trip to work
Working residents average 23 minutes each way (Kansas 20, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Alma itself; outside it, Topeka draws the most (16%, 32 miles). 442 jobs are based in Alma, against 370 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Alma, in brief
Alma’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Alma is Topeka, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (59) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Alma makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Alma are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Alma residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
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 370 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Alma’s commute, mile by mile
About 26% 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 Alma, 44% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alma, 2013 → 2023: 447 → 442. 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 Alma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Alma on a workday
On a workday 333 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 405 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 (1.19 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.
Out of Alma to work: where people go
Where Alma clocks in
16% of workers
12% of workers
5% 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.
The trip to work from Alma: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alma workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 428 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% 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.
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 Alma: questions
What is the median household income in Alma?
$71,875 (±$12,803) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alma?
4.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alma?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alma work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Topeka (16%, 32 mi), Manhattan (12%, 21 mi), St. Marys (5%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alma
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.