Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainAt 0.5%, unemployment in O'Neill is lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers (Nebraska 11%). The two grades for O'Neill are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, O'Neill is behind 79% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where O'Neill stands out on work
The biggest group of O'Neill’s workers comes from Scottsbluff
158 of the people who work in O'Neill live in Scottsbluff, 260 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
O'Neill has far more jobs than workers
O'Neill has 1,680 jobs, 3.3 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
43% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 504 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in O'Neill
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, O'Neill is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #50 of 57 in Nebraska. Unemployment holds O'Neill’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, O'Neill could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Where the people who work in O'Neill live
Where O'Neill clocks in
8% of workers
6% 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.
O'Neill fills up on a workday
On a workday 454 residents head out to work, 50 work right here, and 1,630 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,700 people are in O'Neill on a workday afternoon, 33% more than live here.
3.3 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
O'Neill’s commute, mile by mile
About 43% 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.
What the 1,680 jobs in O'Neill are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in O'Neill, 2013 → 2023: 2,052 → 1,680. 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 O'Neill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long O'Neill spends getting to work: about 12 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of O'Neill workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,687 commuters (the 2% 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.
In O'Neill, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, O'Neill is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #10 of 57 in Nebraska. Both inputs place O'Neill 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 1,729 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). 7.3% of O'Neill households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of O'Neill’s commuters take a bus or train.
O'Neill is 3,116th of 4,355 U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Waverly NE | 4,533 | $112K | 0.5% | 0.0% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Township 2 NE | 3,213 | $116K | 4.0% | 1.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 319 | Valley NE | 3,412 | $110K | 5.3% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,114 | Newport ME | 3,192 | $60K | 12.6% | 4.0% | 17% | C |
| 3,115 | Searsport ME | 2,737 | $64K | 14.6% | 3.2% | 12% | C |
| 3,116 | O'Neill NE | 3,567 | $57K | 18.5% | 0.5% | 10% | C |
| 3,117 | Spencer OK | 3,857 | $60K | 15.1% | 8.7% | 1% | C |
| 3,118 | Newbern TN | 3,222 | $58K | 18.0% | 3.0% | 11% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 O'Neill, 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 O'Neill: questions
What is the median household income in O'Neill?
$56,510 (±$17,733) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in O'Neill?
18.5%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from O'Neill?
12 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in O'Neill work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pleasant View Township (9%, 11 mi), Atkinson (8%, 17 mi), Omaha (6%, 157 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is O'Neill walkable?
O'Neill is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around O'Neill without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from O'Neill, from the people who make the trip.
More of O'Neill
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.