Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainThere are 2.6 jobs in Alda for every working resident, and 685 people commute in
688 jobs are based in Alda, and 263 of its residents work somewhere. Only 1% work in Alda itself; outside it, Grand Island draws the most (43%, 7 miles). 4% of workers work from home, against 11% across Nebraska.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Alda
Alda makes and builds things
92% of the jobs based in Alda are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Alda residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
Alda and Grand Island trade workers both ways
Grand Island is the top workplace for Alda residents (43%) and also where the most people who work in Alda come from (50% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Alda is where the jobs are
Alda has 688 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 1,100 people are in town, 65% more than the 650 who live here. Day and night ↓
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 263 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Alda works in goods: 92% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alda, 2013 → 2023: 155 → 688. 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 Alda’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Alda live
Where Alda clocks in
43% of workers
4% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Alda
On a workday 260 residents head out to work and 3 work right here.
About 1,100 people are in Alda on a workday afternoon, 65% more than live here.
2.6 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Alda’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alda workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 330 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Nebraska: 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 Alda
About 18% 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 Alda: questions
What is the median household income in Alda?
$57,500 (±$19,757) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alda?
28.0%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alda?
21 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alda work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Island (43%, 7 mi), Hastings (13%, 19 mi), Kearney (4%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alda 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 Alda, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alda
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.