Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainSurprise has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Hardly any work in Surprise itself; outside it, Lincoln draws the most (24%, 39 miles). Surprise has 4 jobs, and 25 of its residents work somewhere. Home is the office for 19% of workers (Nebraska 11%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Surprise by day and by night
On a workday 25 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 4 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19 people are in Surprise on a workday afternoon, 53% 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.
Where people from Surprise work
Where Surprise clocks in
24% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
Most jobs in Surprise are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Surprise, 2013 → 2023: 10 → 4. 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 Surprise’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Surprise
of Surprise workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13 commuters (the 19% 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.
How far Surprise goes to work
About 24% 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.
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 Surprise: questions
What is the median household income in Surprise?
$112,083 (±$32,736) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Surprise?
11.4%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Surprise work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lincoln (24%, 39 mi), Seward (8%, 18 mi), Columbus (8%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Surprise without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Surprise, from the people who make the trip.
More of Surprise
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.