Hardly anyone in Waverly is out of work
Measured by household income, Waverly is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Waverly is better than 98% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (B). About one in ten stay in Waverly for work; outside it, Lincoln is the main destination (64%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Waverly, in a few figures
More than half of Waverly works in Lincoln
1,228 working residents, 64%, have their main job in Lincoln, 10 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in Waverly itself. The commute map ↓
Waverly makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Waverly are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Waverly residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 18%. The jobs ↓
Waverly has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Waverly went from 1,944 in 2013 to 2,691 in 2023, +38%. The jobs ↓
Waverly workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 24 minutes each way, against 19 across Nebraska. Over a year that’s about 184 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Waverly’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate is its strongest input (0.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waverly could be anywhere from A to A+.
Where Waverly goes to work
Where Waverly clocks in
64% of workers
8% of workers
1% 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.
43% of the jobs in Waverly make or build things
2,691 jobs are based in Waverly.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waverly, 2013 → 2023: 1,944 → 2,691. 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 Waverly’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Waverly’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waverly workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,846 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.
Who commutes out of Waverly, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,716 residents head out to work, 214 work right here, and 2,477 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,300 people are in Waverly on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 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 commute from Waverly, by distance
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.
In Waverly, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of 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 2,045 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). 0.0% of Waverly households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Waverly’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Waverly is 81st among 3,862 U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Kings Park VA | 4,315 | $166K | 1.9% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 80 | Windermere FL | 3,344 | $178K | 1.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 81 | Waverly NE | 4,533 | $112K | 0.5% | 0.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 82 | Pennsbury Township PA | 3,879 | $168K | 2.3% | 1.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 83 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 192 | Township 2 NE | 3,213 | $116K | 4.0% | 1.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 303 | Valley NE | 3,412 | $110K | 5.3% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 367 | Hickman NE | 3,663 | $104K | 2.6% | 1.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,862 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Waverly, 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 Waverly: questions
What is the median household income in Waverly?
$111,632 (±$25,175) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waverly?
0.5%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waverly?
24 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waverly work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lincoln (64%, 10 mi), Omaha (8%, 35 mi), Gretna (1%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waverly walkable?
Waverly is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waverly without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waverly, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waverly
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.