Hendee Hotel · Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainCozad has lower unemployment (1.3%) than 92% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Cozad for work; outside it, Lexington is the main destination (9%, 14 miles). Jobs and income earn Cozad C+; getting around on foot earns it C. Measured by household income, Cozad is behind 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cozad at work: what stands out
The four measures behind Cozad’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cozad is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #40 of 57 in Nebraska. Unemployment holds Cozad’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cozad could be anywhere from C− to B.
Time on the road from Cozad: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cozad workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,046 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,205 residents head out to work, 690 work right here, and 968 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 (0.87 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.
The towns that employ Cozad’s residents
Where Cozad clocks in
9% 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 kinds of work in Cozad
1,658 jobs are based in Cozad.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cozad, 2013 → 2023: 1,535 → 1,658. 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 Cozad’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Cozad commutes
About 17% 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.
The commute in Cozad is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cozad is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns, #53 of 57 in Nebraska. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,137 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). 12.5% of Cozad households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cozad’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Cozad is 2,703rd of 4,364 U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Waverly NE | 4,533 | $112K | 0.5% | 0.0% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 204 | Township 2 NE | 3,213 | $116K | 4.0% | 1.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 317 | Valley NE | 3,412 | $110K | 5.3% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,701 | Hill 'n Dale FL | 3,083 | $58K | 10.1% | 2.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,702 | Angels CA | 3,735 | $62K | 11.2% | 2.2% | 11% | C+ |
| 2,703 | Cozad NE | 3,924 | $54K | 10.9% | 1.3% | 36% | C+ |
| 2,704 | Wayne Township IN | 4,160 | $63K | 21.8% | 3.1% | 17% | C+ |
| 2,705 | New Durham NH | 2,890 | $100K | 5.8% | 9.4% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,364 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Cozad, 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 Cozad: questions
What is the median household income in Cozad?
$54,471 (±$18,689) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cozad?
10.9%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cozad?
17 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cozad work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (9%, 14 mi), Gothenburg (7%, 10 mi), Kearney (4%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cozad walkable?
Cozad is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cozad without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cozad, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cozad
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.