M. B. Quivey House · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Mitchell has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
336 jobs are based in Mitchell; 649 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Mitchell C−; getting around on foot earns it B. Household incomes here are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Mitchell apart
The figures behind Mitchell’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mitchell is better than 19% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Mitchell’s grade up (11.1%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($54,150, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.9%) is left out: Mitchell’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mitchell could be anywhere from D to C+.
37% of working residents work in Scottsbluff
Where Mitchell clocks in
37% of workers
2% 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.
Who works in Mitchell, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 576 residents head out to work, 73 work right here, and 263 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Mitchell on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
Mitchell is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mitchell, 2013 → 2023: 312 → 336. 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 Mitchell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Mitchell’s commute takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mitchell workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 736 commuters (the 6% 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.
Miles to work from Mitchell
About 19% 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.
Most trips from Mitchell start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mitchell is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Mitchell near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 784 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). 4.8% of Mitchell households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mitchell’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,823rd of 5,397: where Mitchell ranks among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 169 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 233 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 303 | Pohocco Township NE | 1,296 | $100K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,821 | Bedford IA | 1,474 | $61K | 10.0% | 7.0% | 18% | C− |
| 3,822 | Capac MI | 1,943 | $60K | 12.5% | 9.0% | 6% | C− |
| 3,823 | Mitchell NE | 1,513 | $54K | 11.1% | 3.9% | 11% | C− |
| 3,824 | Durand WI | 1,854 | $59K | 13.5% | 4.6% | 16% | C− |
| 3,825 | Pleasant Run Township IN | 1,745 | $77K | 17.3% | 6.8% | <1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Mitchell, 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 Mitchell: questions
What is the median household income in Mitchell?
$54,150 (±$8,436) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mitchell?
11.1%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mitchell?
19 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mitchell work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Scottsbluff (37%, 9 mi), Gering (12%, 11 mi), Omaha (2%, 403 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mitchell walkable?
Mitchell is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mitchell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mitchell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mitchell
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.