Kester Planing Mill · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Neligh’s household incomes are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Neligh is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (B−). The poverty rate is 7.4% (Nebraska 10.6%). About one in three work in Neligh itself; outside it, Norfolk draws the most (9%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Neligh
Neligh’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Neligh is Norfolk, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (72) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Neligh are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 19 across Nebraska. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Nebraska worker. Time on the road ↓
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 758 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Neligh’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
The poverty rate holds Neligh’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down.
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Neligh’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, Neligh could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Neligh
About 28% 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.
About 12 minutes each way, quicker than most of Nebraska
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Neligh workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 700 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.
Who works in Neligh, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 478 residents head out to work, 280 work right here, and 565 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 (1.11 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.
Where Neligh goes to work
Where Neligh clocks in
9% 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.
What work there is in Neligh: 845 jobs
845 jobs are based in Neligh.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Neligh, 2013 → 2023: 913 → 845. 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 Neligh’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Neligh, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 735 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). 5.5% of Neligh households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Neligh’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Neligh is 3,711th of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 187 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 261 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Pohocco Township NE | 1,296 | $100K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,709 | Deadwood SD | 1,360 | $40K | 6.7% | 5.4% | 40% | C |
| 3,710 | Limon CO | 2,021 | $66K | 8.1% | 1.7% | 32% | C |
| 3,711 | Neligh NE | 1,551 | $59K | 7.4% | 2.1% | 37% | C |
| 3,712 | Colchester Township IL | 1,511 | $64K | 9.9% | 2.9% | 11% | C |
| 3,713 | Otter Creek Township IN | 1,384 | $73K | 12.1% | 1.6% | 0% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | 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 Neligh, 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 Neligh: questions
What is the median household income in Neligh?
$59,239 (±$4,735) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Neligh?
7.4%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Neligh?
12 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Neligh work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Norfolk (9%, 32 mi), Omaha (4%, 118 mi), Lincoln (3%, 115 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Neligh walkable?
Neligh is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Neligh 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 Neligh, from the people who make the trip.
More of Neligh
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.