Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainEarning a living in Sutton
Sutton grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in four work in Sutton itself; outside it, Hastings draws the most (16%, 28 miles). The average commute takes 17 minutes each way, next to 19 for Nebraska and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Sutton, in brief
Where Sutton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Sutton is better than 48% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Sutton’s grade up (5.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Sutton’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, Sutton could be anywhere from C to B.
How far Sutton goes to work
About 22% 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.
Sutton by day and by night
On a workday 415 residents head out to work, 127 work right here, and 548 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 (1.25 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.
The towns that employ Sutton’s residents
Where Sutton clocks in
8% 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.
Making and building: 29% of jobs based in Sutton
675 jobs are based in Sutton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sutton, 2013 → 2023: 679 → 675. 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 Sutton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Sutton: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sutton workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 668 commuters (the 6% 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 Sutton, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sutton is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Sutton 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 714 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). 6.1% of Sutton households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sutton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sutton is 2,362nd of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 189 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 257 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Pohocco Township NE | 1,296 | $100K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,360 | Calais VT | 1,661 | $101K | 8.8% | 0.8% | 5% | B− |
| 2,361 | Parks AZ | 1,706 | $78K | 5.5% | 1.0% | 3% | B− |
| 2,362 | Sutton NE | 1,466 | $81K | 5.8% | 1.3% | 23% | B− |
| 2,363 | James Township MI | 1,746 | $70K | 11.4% | 4.3% | 3% | B− |
| 2,364 | New Haven Township MI | 1,211 | $68K | 6.0% | 2.3% | <1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Sutton, the top three, the last and three more from Nebraska.
Sutton and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sutton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton | – | B− | B | 17 min | $81,313 |
| Sutton Township | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| School Creek Township | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sutton Township and School Creek Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sutton’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 Sutton: questions
What is the median household income in Sutton?
$81,313 (±$10,847) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sutton?
5.8%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sutton?
17 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sutton work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hastings (16%, 28 mi), Grand Island (8%, 34 mi), Harvard (6%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sutton walkable?
Sutton is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sutton 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 Sutton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sutton
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.