Midway Stage Station · Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainGothenburg has lower unemployment (0.6%) than 97% of U.S. towns
3% of workers work from home (Nebraska 11%). Jobs and income earn Gothenburg B; getting around on foot earns it A. About half work in Gothenburg itself; outside it, Cozad draws the most (7%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Gothenburg apart on work
Most jobs in Gothenburg go to people who live here
Of the 1,683 jobs based in Gothenburg, 45% are held by Gothenburg residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Few Gothenburg workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 11% across Nebraska. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Gothenburg: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gothenburg is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #27 of 57 in Nebraska. Unemployment holds Gothenburg’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gothenburg could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Who works in Gothenburg, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 833 residents head out to work, 763 work right here, and 920 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 (1.05 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.
About 17 minutes each way, quicker than most of Nebraska
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gothenburg workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,830 commuters (the 3% 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.
Out of Gothenburg to work: where people go
Where Gothenburg clocks in
7% 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.
Jobs in Gothenburg: what the 1,683 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gothenburg, 2013 → 2023: 1,614 → 1,683. 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 Gothenburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Gothenburg, by distance
About 23% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Gothenburg
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gothenburg is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #8 of 57 in Nebraska. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across Nebraska, on an EPA index of 8.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,886 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). 4.0% of Gothenburg households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gothenburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Gothenburg is 1,901st of 4,402 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Waverly NE | 4,533 | $112K | 0.5% | 0.0% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Township 2 NE | 3,213 | $116K | 4.0% | 1.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 309 | Valley NE | 3,412 | $110K | 5.3% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,899 | South Beaver Township PA | 2,656 | $88K | 10.2% | 4.3% | 4% | B |
| 1,900 | Barrett Township PA | 4,010 | $85K | 7.6% | 3.1% | 20% | B |
| 1,901 | Gothenburg NE | 3,430 | $79K | 10.1% | 0.6% | 48% | B |
| 1,902 | Northfield OH | 3,617 | $71K | 12.4% | 4.5% | 6% | B |
| 1,903 | Fabius Township MI | 3,325 | $96K | 8.8% | 5.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | 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 Gothenburg, 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 Gothenburg: questions
What is the median household income in Gothenburg?
$79,219 (±$15,560) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gothenburg?
10.1%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gothenburg?
17 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gothenburg work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cozad (7%, 10 mi), Lexington (5%, 24 mi), North Platte (5%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gothenburg walkable?
Gothenburg is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gothenburg without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gothenburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gothenburg
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.