Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad Depot · Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainHouseholds in Plainview earn less than those in 82% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Plainview for work; outside it, Norfolk is the main destination (13%, 29 miles). Poverty touches 10.9% of residents (Nebraska 10.6%). Jobs and income earn Plainview D; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Plainview and work: the main findings
Plainview’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Plainview is Norfolk, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (74) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Plainview pay little
27% of the jobs based in Plainview pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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 589 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Plainview’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Plainview is better than 14% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Plainview’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (8.3%) is left out: Plainview’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, Plainview could be anywhere from D to C.
Miles to work from Plainview
About 26% 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.
Inside Plainview’s 429 jobs
429 jobs are based in Plainview.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plainview, 2013 → 2023: 425 → 429. 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 Plainview’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Plainview on a workday afternoon
On a workday 513 residents head out to work, 76 work right here, and 353 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Plainview on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.73 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 out of Plainview: the destinations
Where Plainview clocks in
13% of workers
10% 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.
Commuting from Plainview: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plainview workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 480 commuters (the 7% 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.
Plainview is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plainview is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Plainview 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 515 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). 5.2% of Plainview households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Plainview’s commuters take a bus or train.
Plainview places 3,726th of 4,866 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 243 | Pohocco Township NE | 1,296 | $100K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,724 | Auxvasse MO | 1,029 | $56K | 29.8% | 8.1% | 1% | D |
| 3,725 | Plentywood MT | 1,619 | $68K | 14.7% | 3.3% | 57% | D |
| 3,726 | Plainview NE | 1,284 | $55K | 10.9% | 8.3% | 13% | D |
| 3,727 | Woodland ME | 1,206 | $64K | 13.9% | 3.6% | 1% | D |
| 3,728 | Harrison Township PA | 1,003 | $61K | 11.6% | 4.3% | 9% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Plainview, 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 Plainview: questions
What is the median household income in Plainview?
$54,766 (±$12,352) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plainview?
10.9%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plainview?
21 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plainview work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Norfolk (13%, 29 mi), Osmond (10%, 10 mi), Omaha (6%, 117 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plainview walkable?
Plainview is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plainview 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 Plainview, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plainview
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.