Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.0 jobs for every working resident, most of Memphis works elsewhere
Memphis has 3 jobs, and 62 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Memphis itself; outside it, Omaha draws the most (39%, 23 miles). A typical one-way commute from Memphis lasts 29 minutes (Nebraska 19, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The daily commute in and out of Memphis
On a workday 62 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 3 people come in from elsewhere.
About 47 people are in Memphis on a workday afternoon, 56% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Memphis: the destinations
Where Memphis clocks in
39% of workers
6% 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.
In Memphis, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Memphis, 2013 → 2023: 5 → 3. 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 Memphis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Memphis takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Memphis workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 54 commuters (the 10% 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 many miles Memphis commutes
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 Memphis: questions
What is the median household income in Memphis?
$73,750 (±$71,437) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Memphis?
3.8%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Memphis?
29 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Memphis work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (39%, 23 mi), Lincoln (6%, 23 mi), Mead (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Memphis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Memphis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Memphis
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.