With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Alba works elsewhere
Hardly any stay in Alba for work; outside it, Joplin is the main destination (28%, 12 miles). Alba has 31 jobs, against 169 working residents. A typical one-way commute lasts 35 minutes, where Missouri has 24 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Alba
On a workday 169 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 31 people come in from elsewhere.
About 450 people are in Alba on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Alba: the destinations
Where Alba clocks in
28% of workers
21% 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 Alba, 58% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
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 Alba’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 35 minutes from Alba
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alba workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 222 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% 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.
Miles to work from Alba
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.
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 Alba: questions
What is the median household income in Alba?
$51,510 (±$3,992) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alba?
32.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alba?
35 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alba work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Joplin (28%, 12 mi), Carthage (21%, 8 mi), Jasper (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alba without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alba, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alba
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.