Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainHousehold incomes in Superior are lower than in 68% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Superior C; getting around on foot earns it A−. Below the poverty line: 5.5% of residents, next to 10.6% across Nebraska. 2% of workers work from home (Nebraska 11%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Superior at work: what stands out
Commutes from Superior are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 19 across Nebraska. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Nebraska worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Superior 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 769 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Superior’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Superior is better than 33% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Superior’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Superior’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, Superior could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Getting to work from Superior takes about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Superior workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 898 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.
Who works in Superior, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 449 residents head out to work, 320 work right here, and 580 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 (1.17 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.
5% of working residents work in Hastings
Where Superior clocks in
4% 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.
The 900 jobs based in Superior
900 jobs are based in Superior.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Superior, 2013 → 2023: 867 → 900. 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 Superior’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Superior works
About 28% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Superior
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Superior is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across Nebraska, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 920 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). 5.9% of Superior households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Superior’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Superior ranks: 3,238th of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 273 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 316 | Beaver Lake NE | 2,114 | $122K | 1.7% | 3.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,236 | Red Lake Falls MN | 1,348 | $64K | 5.9% | 1.9% | 28% | C |
| 3,237 | Claycomo MO | 1,362 | $49K | 19.8% | 6.9% | 6% | C |
| 3,238 | Superior NE | 1,821 | $64K | 5.5% | 1.1% | 42% | C |
| 3,239 | Hildebran NC | 1,691 | $56K | 21.1% | 3.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,240 | Payson Township IL | 1,695 | $62K | 8.8% | 2.7% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Superior, 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 Superior: questions
What is the median household income in Superior?
$63,810 (±$7,638) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Superior?
5.5%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Superior?
13 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Superior work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hastings (5%, 43 mi), Grand Island (4%, 64 mi), Lincoln (4%, 91 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Superior walkable?
Superior is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Superior without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Superior, from the people who make the trip.
More of Superior
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.