Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainJobs and the daily commute in Homer
At 19 minutes each way, commutes from Homer run about the Nebraska average. 2% of workers work from home; Nebraska has 11%. Only 4% stay in Homer for work; outside it, Sioux City is the main destination (27%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Homer at work: what stands out
Homer and Sioux City trade workers both ways
Sioux City is the top workplace for Homer residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Homer come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A lot of Homer workers cross into Iowa
35% of Homer workers work outside Nebraska, most of them in Iowa, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Homer makes and builds things
59% of the jobs based in Homer are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Homer residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. 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; with 224 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Homer’s working residents head each day
Where Homer clocks in
27% 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.
59% of the jobs in Homer make or build things
334 jobs are based in Homer.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Homer, 2013 → 2023: 137 → 334. 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 Homer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Homer for work, and who comes in
On a workday 216 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 326 people come in from elsewhere.
About 630 people are in Homer on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.49 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.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Homer
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Homer workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 243 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.
How far it is to work from Homer
About 15% 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 Homer: questions
What is the median household income in Homer?
$80,714 (±$15,253) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Homer?
10.9%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Homer?
19 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Homer work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sioux City (27%, 13 mi), South Sioux City (11%, 10 mi), Winnebago (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Homer without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Homer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Homer
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.