Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainWith 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Ravenna works elsewhere
For jobs and income Ravenna is better than 19% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+). Employers in Ravenna report 324 jobs, against 636 working residents. 3% of workers have no commute at all (Nebraska 11%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ravenna and work: the main findings
Ravenna’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ravenna is Kearney, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (168) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Ravenna than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Ravenna fell from 651 in 2013 to 324 in 2023, −50%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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 636 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Ravenna
The poverty rate holds Ravenna’s grade up (12.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Ravenna’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, Ravenna could be anywhere from D to C.
How many miles Ravenna commutes
About 17% 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.
The kinds of work in Ravenna
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ravenna, 2013 → 2023: 651 → 324. 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 Ravenna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Ravenna on a workday
On a workday 579 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 267 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Ravenna on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in Kearney
Where Ravenna clocks in
26% of workers
11% of workers
5% 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.
A commute of about 21 minutes in Ravenna
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ravenna workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 688 commuters (the 3% 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 Ravenna, work means a drive
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across Nebraska, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 708 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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). 6.6% of Ravenna households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ravenna’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, Ravenna comes 4,143rd 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 172 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 234 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 307 | Pohocco Township NE | 1,296 | $100K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,141 | Cambria IL | 1,796 | $58K | 18.5% | 5.2% | 4% | C− |
| 4,142 | Quincy MI | 1,564 | $60K | 16.7% | 2.7% | 5% | C− |
| 4,143 | Ravenna NE | 1,397 | $64K | 12.6% | 2.1% | 9% | C− |
| 4,144 | Coal Grove OH | 1,808 | $61K | 15.1% | 6.7% | 6% | C− |
| 4,145 | Liberty Township PA | 1,015 | $78K | 18.1% | 2.0% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Ravenna, 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 Ravenna: questions
What is the median household income in Ravenna?
$64,423 (±$9,805) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ravenna?
12.6%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ravenna?
21 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ravenna work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kearney (26%, 25 mi), Grand Island (11%, 29 mi), Lincoln (5%, 117 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ravenna walkable?
Ravenna is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ravenna without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ravenna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ravenna
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.