Photo: Arundel C. Hull · Public domainJobs and earnings in Willow Island, and the trip to work
Hardly any work in Willow Island itself; outside it, Cozad draws the most (27%, 5 miles). There are 18 jobs in Willow Island, against 11 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Willow Island by day and by night
On a workday 11 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 18 people come in from elsewhere.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where the people who work in Willow Island live
Where Willow Island clocks in
27% of workers
18% 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 Willow Island’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willow Island, 2014 → 2024: 16 → 18. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Willow Island’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Willow Island goes to work
About 36% 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 2024.
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 2024, 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 Willow Island: questions
Where do people who live in Willow Island work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cozad (27%, 5 mi), Gothenburg (27%, 5 mi), Kearney (18%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Willow Island, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willow Island
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.