Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainHow Wilcox works: jobs, income and commuting
Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, against 11% across Nebraska. Only 7% work in Wilcox; the top destination outside it is Kearney (34%, 24 miles). The average commute, 19 minutes each way, matches the Nebraska norm.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wilcox by day and by night
On a workday 155 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 115 people come in from elsewhere.
About 290 people are in Wilcox on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 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 Wilcox’s residents
Where Wilcox clocks in
34% 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.
What Wilcox’s employers do
126 jobs are based in Wilcox.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wilcox, 2013 → 2023: 97 → 126. 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 Wilcox’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Wilcox, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wilcox workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 135 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.
Where in the region Wilcox works
About 21% 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 Wilcox: questions
What is the median household income in Wilcox?
$66,250 (±$20,430) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wilcox?
7.8%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wilcox?
19 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wilcox work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kearney (34%, 24 mi), Minden (8%, 14 mi), Holdrege (8%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wilcox without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wilcox, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wilcox
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.