Photo: Latteinthemidwest20 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Norfolk are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
About half work in Norfolk; the top destination outside it is Omaha (6%, 88 miles). Poverty touches 14.3% of residents, next to 10.6% for Nebraska as a whole. Jobs and income earn Norfolk C+; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Norfolk stands out on work
Most jobs in Norfolk go to people who live here
Of the 13,333 jobs based in Norfolk, 45% are held by Norfolk residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Norfolk 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 ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Norfolk
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Norfolk is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #42 of 57 in Nebraska. Unemployment holds Norfolk’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($58,884, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Norfolk could be anywhere from C to B−.
The daily commute in and out of Norfolk
On a workday 6,736 residents head out to work, 5,963 work right here, and 7,370 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 (1.05 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.
How long Norfolk spends getting to work: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Norfolk workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,438 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.
Where Norfolk goes to work
Where Norfolk clocks in
6% of workers
3% 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.
What the 13,333 jobs in Norfolk are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Norfolk, 2013 → 2023: 13,407 → 13,333. 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 Norfolk’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Norfolk’s workers travel
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.
For most of Norfolk, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Norfolk is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #33 of 57 in Nebraska. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 13,131 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 3% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.3% of Norfolk households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Norfolk’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Norfolk is 1,158th among 1,477 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 36,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 259 | Papillion NE | 25,127 | $112K | 5.3% | 3.2% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 989 | Columbus NE | 25,248 | $65K | 11.3% | 2.4% | 49% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 998 | Kearney NE | 34,782 | $70K | 12.4% | 2.9% | 61% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,156 | Lennox CA | 19,449 | $58K | 16.4% | 6.6% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,157 | Aberdeen SD | 27,961 | $64K | 13.8% | 3.7% | 67% | C+ |
| 1,158 | Norfolk NE | 26,677 | $59K | 14.3% | 3.2% | 47% | C+ |
| 1,159 | Denison TX | 26,822 | $67K | 15.0% | 4.6% | 22% | C+ |
| 1,160 | Sheridan WY | 20,015 | $63K | 12.5% | 2.9% | 65% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,477 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Norfolk, 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 Norfolk: questions
What is the median household income in Norfolk?
$58,884 (±$4,400) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Norfolk?
14.3%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Norfolk?
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 Norfolk work?
47% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (6%, 88 mi), Lincoln (3%, 93 mi), Columbus (2%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Norfolk walkable?
Norfolk is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Norfolk without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Norfolk, from the people who make the trip.
More of Norfolk
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.