Balcony House · Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainAt 1.7%, unemployment in Imperial is lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
About two in five work in Imperial; the top destination outside it is Wauneta (11%, 16 miles). The two grades for Imperial are B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 13 minutes, where Nebraska has 19 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Imperial
Jobs & income in Imperial: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Imperial is better than 53% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Imperial’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Imperial could be anywhere from C to B+.
Imperial’s commute takes about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Imperial workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,020 commuters (the 9% 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.
Imperial on a workday afternoon
On a workday 461 residents head out to work, 334 work right here, and 653 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Imperial on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.24 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 Imperial’s residents
Where Imperial 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.
What Imperial’s employers do
987 jobs are based in Imperial.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Imperial, 2013 → 2023: 1,121 → 987. 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 Imperial’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Imperial works
About 24% 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.
Imperial is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Imperial is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across Nebraska, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,116 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). 1.7% of Imperial households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Imperial’s commuters take a bus or train.
Imperial is 1,921st of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 175 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 259 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 304 | Beaver Lake NE | 2,114 | $122K | 1.7% | 3.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,919 | Roanoke IN | 1,811 | $71K | 10.9% | 3.9% | 2% | B− |
| 1,920 | Clinton MI | 2,481 | $83K | 5.2% | 6.5% | 6% | B− |
| 1,921 | Imperial NE | 1,962 | $74K | 7.1% | 1.7% | 42% | B− |
| 1,922 | Milford UT | 1,401 | $82K | 2.3% | 2.3% | 34% | B− |
| 1,923 | Pine Township IN | 2,447 | $75K | 11.2% | 2.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | 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 Imperial, 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 Imperial: questions
What is the median household income in Imperial?
$74,176 (±$15,047) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Imperial?
7.1%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Imperial?
13 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Imperial work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wauneta (11%, 16 mi), Lincoln (4%, 261 mi), North Platte (2%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Imperial walkable?
Imperial is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Imperial without a car?
1% 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 Imperial, from the people who make the trip.
More of Imperial
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.