Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainJobs, pay and the trip to work in Pender
Jobs and income earn Pender C; getting around on foot earns it A−. For 2% of workers, the job is at home, where Nebraska as a whole has 11%. About one in four stay in Pender for work; outside it, Macy is the main destination (8%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Pender
Pender is where the jobs are
Pender has 836 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Pender workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 27 minutes each way, against 19 across Nebraska. Over a year that’s about 207 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Pender workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 11% across Nebraska. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 504 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Pender’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Pender is better than 31% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Pender’s grade up (9.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.9%) is left out: Pender’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Pender could be anywhere from D to B.
Who commutes out of Pender, and who commutes in
On a workday 368 residents head out to work, 136 work right here, and 700 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Pender on a workday afternoon, 30% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Commuting from Pender: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pender workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 648 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.
Where Pender’s workforce comes from
Where Pender clocks in
8% of workers
4% 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.
66% of the jobs in Pender pay over $3,333 a month
836 jobs are based in Pender.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pender, 2013 → 2023: 831 → 836. 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 Pender’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Pender to work
About 21% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Pender
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pender is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Pender 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 664 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). 0.6% of Pender households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pender’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Pender ranks 2,042nd of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 174 | Pohocco Township NE | 1,296 | $100K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,040 | La Cygne KS | 1,013 | $59K | 7.3% | 6.5% | 11% | C |
| 2,041 | Starbuck MN | 1,406 | $73K | 10.3% | 2.8% | 10% | C |
| 2,042 | Pender NE | 1,106 | $73K | 9.4% | 3.9% | 27% | C |
| 2,043 | Caddo OK | 1,093 | $52K | 6.5% | 1.9% | 5% | C |
| 2,044 | Peace Township MN | 1,005 | $67K | 6.6% | 6.2% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Pender, 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 Pender: questions
What is the median household income in Pender?
$73,125 (±$27,771) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pender?
9.4%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pender?
27 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pender work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Macy (8%, 18 mi), Blackbird Township (5%, 19 mi), Omaha (4%, 68 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pender walkable?
Pender is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pender without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pender, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pender
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.