Sutherland State Aid Bridge · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Earning a living in Hershey
1% of workers work from home, where Nebraska as a whole has 11%. Only 7% stay in Hershey for work; outside it, North Platte is the main destination (36%, 13 miles). Commuters spend 16 minutes getting to work on average; the Nebraska average is 19, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Hershey in brief
Hershey and North Platte trade workers both ways
North Platte is the top workplace for Hershey residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Hershey come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Hershey workers work from home
Only 1% 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; with 215 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The towns that employ Hershey’s residents
Where Hershey clocks in
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.
About 16 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 Hershey workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 386 commuters (the 1% 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.
Hershey by day and by night
On a workday 199 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 206 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 (1.03 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.
What Hershey’s employers do
222 jobs are based in Hershey.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hershey, 2013 → 2023: 185 → 222. 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 Hershey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Hershey
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.
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 Hershey: questions
What is the median household income in Hershey?
$91,458 (±$37,958) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hershey?
7.0%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hershey?
16 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hershey work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are North Platte (36%, 13 mi), Sutherland (13%, 6 mi), Lincoln (4%, 227 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Hershey 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 Hershey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hershey
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.