Alliance Commercial Historic District · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Fewer people are out of work in Alliance (2.0%) than in 85% of U.S. towns
Alliance grades C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Home is the office for 2% of workers; Nebraska has 11%. About two in five stay in Alliance for work; outside it, Scottsbluff is the main destination (5%, 44 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Alliance, in brief
Most jobs in Alliance go to people who live here
Of the 2,011 jobs based in Alliance, 59% are held by Alliance residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Alliance are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 19 across Nebraska. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Nebraska worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Alliance workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 11% across Nebraska. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Alliance than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Alliance fell from 2,684 in 2013 to 2,011 in 2023, −25%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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.
The figures behind Alliance’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alliance is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #41 of 57 in Nebraska. Unemployment holds Alliance’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 10% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alliance could be anywhere from C− to B.
Who leaves Alliance for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,640 residents head out to work, 1,187 work right here, and 824 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Alliance on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.71 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 11 minutes each way for Alliance’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alliance workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,706 commuters (the 2% 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.
What work there is in Alliance: 2,011 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alliance, 2013 → 2023: 2,684 → 2,011. 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 Alliance’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Alliance goes to work
Where Alliance clocks in
5% 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.
Miles to work from Alliance
About 27% 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.
Alliance is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alliance is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #45 of 57 in Nebraska. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.5% across Nebraska.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,774 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). 7.6% of Alliance households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Alliance’s commuters take a bus or train.
Alliance is 2,135th of 3,069 U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,700 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Gretna NE | 9,207 | $124K | 4.2% | 0.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 324 | Chalco NE | 10,595 | $86K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 579 | Ralston NE | 6,382 | $69K | 4.0% | 2.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,133 | Fruitland MD | 6,007 | $64K | 19.9% | 3.5% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,134 | North Kansas City MO | 5,613 | $50K | 9.1% | 9.5% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,135 | Alliance NE | 7,914 | $65K | 12.8% | 2.0% | 42% | C+ |
| 2,136 | Clifton Heights PA | 6,835 | $71K | 15.6% | 17.1% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,137 | Coral Hills MD | 9,756 | $69K | 18.3% | 8.5% | <1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,069 | 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 Alliance, the top three, the last and three more from Nebraska.
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 Alliance: questions
What is the median household income in Alliance?
$65,160 (±$10,845) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alliance?
12.8%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alliance?
11 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alliance work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Scottsbluff (5%, 44 mi), Omaha (3%, 357 mi), O'Neill (3%, 218 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alliance walkable?
Alliance is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alliance without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alliance, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alliance
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.