Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainHardly anyone in Kimball is out of work
Household incomes here are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Kimball are C for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About half work in Kimball itself; outside it, Sidney draws the most (4%, 36 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Kimball and work: the main findings
Most jobs in Kimball go to people who live here
Of the 982 jobs based in Kimball, 46% are held by Kimball residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Kimball are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 19 across Nebraska. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Nebraska worker. Time on the road ↓
Kimball’s workforce skews older
37% of Kimball’s working residents are 55 or older. 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 991 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Kimball: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kimball is better than 33% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Kimball’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kimball could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Who commutes out of Kimball, and who commutes in
On a workday 536 residents head out to work, 455 work right here, and 527 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 (0.99 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 daily trip from Kimball: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kimball workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 973 commuters (the 5% 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.
Kimball works in goods: 29% of its jobs
982 jobs are based in Kimball.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kimball, 2013 → 2023: 952 → 982. 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 Kimball’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Kimball goes to work
Where Kimball clocks in
4% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
How far Kimball’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
Driving is how Kimball gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kimball is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 1,022 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). 3.9% of Kimball households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kimball’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100, Kimball ranks 3,232nd of 5,328 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 333 | Beaver Lake NE | 2,114 | $122K | 1.7% | 3.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 353 | Township 7 NE | 2,760 | $93K | 5.3% | 0.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 497 | Bennington NE | 1,968 | $98K | 5.3% | 3.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,230 | Yellow Creek Township OH | 1,889 | $66K | 10.6% | 3.8% | 1% | C |
| 3,231 | Summerhill Township PA | 2,231 | $58K | 9.3% | 2.5% | 5% | C |
| 3,232 | Kimball NE | 2,271 | $56K | 14.9% | 0.0% | 46% | C |
| 3,233 | Bradford OH | 1,814 | $64K | 14.7% | 1.1% | 3% | C |
| 3,234 | Hennessey OK | 2,207 | $70K | 16.3% | 3.0% | 29% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | 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 Kimball, 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 Kimball: questions
What is the median household income in Kimball?
$56,174 (±$10,200) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kimball?
14.9%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kimball?
13 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kimball work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sidney (4%, 36 mi), Scottsbluff (4%, 44 mi), O'Neill (3%, 271 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kimball walkable?
Kimball is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kimball 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 Kimball, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kimball
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.