Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainHardly anyone in Geneva is out of work
The average commute takes 23 minutes each way, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. Geneva grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four work in Geneva itself; outside it, Lincoln draws the most (12%, 52 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Geneva stands out on work
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Geneva
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Geneva is better than 65% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Geneva’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Geneva could be anywhere from B− to A−.
How many miles Geneva commutes
About 28% 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.
Geneva fills up on a workday
On a workday 687 residents head out to work, 268 work right here, and 888 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Geneva on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.21 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.
Commuting out of Geneva: the destinations
Where Geneva clocks in
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 kinds of work in Geneva
1,156 jobs are based in Geneva.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Geneva, 2013 → 2023: 1,066 → 1,156. 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 Geneva’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Geneva
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Geneva workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,066 commuters (the 8% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Geneva
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Geneva is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.5% 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 1,155 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). 4.8% of Geneva households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Geneva’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800, Geneva ranks 1,336th of 5,148 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 314 | Beaver Lake NE | 2,114 | $122K | 1.7% | 3.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 330 | Township 7 NE | 2,760 | $93K | 5.3% | 0.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 467 | Bennington NE | 1,968 | $98K | 5.3% | 3.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,334 | Garfield Township MI | 1,685 | $97K | 5.5% | 5.3% | <1% | B+ |
| 1,335 | Geneva WA | 2,073 | $142K | 1.8% | 12.1% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,336 | Geneva NE | 2,100 | $80K | 6.2% | 0.0% | 28% | B+ |
| 1,337 | East Lackawannock Township PA | 1,635 | $80K | 6.4% | 0.2% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,338 | Panorama Village TX | 2,522 | $77K | 12.5% | 2.8% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Geneva, 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 Geneva: questions
What is the median household income in Geneva?
$80,398 (±$10,153) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Geneva?
6.2%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Geneva?
23 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Geneva work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lincoln (12%, 52 mi), Omaha (5%, 95 mi), York (5%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Geneva walkable?
Geneva is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Geneva without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Geneva, from the people who make the trip.
More of Geneva
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.