Omaha draws about two in three of Ralston’s working residents
A typical one-way commute lasts 20 minutes, where Nebraska has 19 and the U.S. 26. Ralston grades A for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 59% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ralston and work: the main findings
More than half of Ralston works in Omaha
2,101 working residents, 65%, have their main job in Omaha, 4.4 miles away across the town line. That’s 13 times as many as work in Ralston itself. The commute map ↓
Most Ralston residents work close to home
86% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Ralston trades workers with the towns around it
Ralston has about as many jobs (3,399) as working residents (3,246), but they are mostly different people: 3,073 residents leave for work each day while 3,226 people come in. Only 5% of the jobs in Ralston are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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.
What’s behind Ralston’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ralston is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #10 of 57 in Nebraska. Job access by car holds Ralston’s grade up (ahead of 90% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($69,403, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ralston could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Where Ralston goes to work
Where Ralston clocks in
65% of workers
5% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Ralston
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.
Who commutes out of Ralston, and who commutes in
On a workday 3,073 residents head out to work, 173 work right here, and 3,226 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Ralston
3,399 jobs are based in Ralston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ralston, 2013 → 2023: 3,110 → 3,399. 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 Ralston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Ralston takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ralston workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,313 commuters (the 10% 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.
For most of Ralston, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ralston is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #41 of 57 in Nebraska. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 3,681 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 78% 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 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 59% 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). 3.9% of Ralston households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ralston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,255 U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,600, Ralston comes 533rd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Waverly NE | 4,533 | $112K | 0.5% | 0.0% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 408 | Township 1 NE | 4,517 | $126K | 5.9% | 2.9% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 531 | Savage MD | 8,239 | $117K | 5.6% | 4.8% | 1% | A |
| 532 | La Crescent MN | 5,261 | $85K | 5.7% | 0.5% | 15% | A |
| 533 | Ralston NE | 6,382 | $69K | 4.0% | 2.2% | 5% | A |
| 534 | Granite Falls WA | 4,686 | $105K | 3.4% | 2.4% | 5% | A |
| 535 | Nottingham NH | 5,490 | $122K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 543 | Plattsmouth NE | 6,955 | $74K | 5.1% | 0.7% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,255 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Ralston, the top three, the last and three more from Nebraska.
65% of Ralston works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Omaha. Darker towns draw more of Ralston’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Ralston: questions
What is the median household income in Ralston?
$69,403 (±$10,627) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ralston?
4.0%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ralston?
20 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ralston work?
5% work in town.
Is Ralston walkable?
Ralston is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 12.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ralston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ralston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ralston
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.