Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0At 2.4%, unemployment in Alpha is lower than in 79% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 26 minutes each way (New Jersey 31, U.S. 26). The two grades for Alpha are A− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 6% work in Alpha; the top destination outside it is Phillipsburg (6%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Alpha in brief
Alpha trades workers with the towns around it
Alpha has about as many jobs (1,183) as working residents (1,127), but they are mostly different people: 1,058 residents leave for work each day while 1,114 people come in. Only 6% of the jobs in Alpha are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Alpha makes and builds things
57% of the jobs based in Alpha are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Alpha residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Many of the people who work in Alpha live in another state
Easton, PA (4%), Forks Township, PA (3%) and Bethlehem Township, PA (2%) are among the top places Alpha’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 13% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Alpha has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Alpha went from 822 in 2013 to 1,183 in 2023, +44%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Alpha pay over $40,000 a year
73% of the jobs based in Alpha pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
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 drives the Jobs & income grade in Alpha
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alpha is better than 85% of U.S. towns. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Alpha’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alpha could be anywhere from B to A+.
A workday in Alpha: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,058 residents head out to work, 69 work right here, and 1,114 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 (1.05 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.
Alpha makes things: 57% of its jobs are in goods
1,183 jobs are based in Alpha.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alpha, 2013 → 2023: 822 → 1,183. 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 Alpha’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Alpha to work: where people go
Where Alpha clocks in
6% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
From Alpha, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alpha workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,145 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across New Jersey: 75% drive alone, 10% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Near or far: the trip to work from Alpha
About 16% 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.
Most trips from Alpha start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alpha is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 13.2% across New Jersey.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,288 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). 3.4% of Alpha households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Alpha’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Alpha is 529th of 4,995 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Alpine NJ | 1,759 | $247K | 6.2% | 6.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Sea Girt NJ | 1,874 | $214K | 3.3% | 4.5% | 4% | A+ |
| 57 | Spring Lake NJ | 2,769 | $216K | 1.0% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 527 | Snowmass Village CO | 2,965 | $103K | 1.7% | 0.0% | 32% | A− |
| 528 | East Dundee IL | 3,130 | $90K | 11.8% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| 529 | Alpha NJ | 2,362 | $90K | 5.8% | 2.4% | 6% | A− |
| 530 | Chaplin CT | 2,187 | $98K | 5.4% | 1.4% | 6% | A− |
| 531 | Kelso Township IN | 2,521 | $98K | 5.2% | 2.3% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Alpha, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
Work in the towns next to Alpha
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alpha workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | – | A− | B+ | 26 min | $90,333 |
| Upper Pohatcong | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Upper Pohatcong: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alpha’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 Alpha: questions
What is the median household income in Alpha?
$90,333 (±$14,862) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alpha?
5.8%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alpha?
26 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alpha work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phillipsburg (6%, 2 mi), Raritan Township (3%, 16 mi), Bethlehem (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alpha walkable?
Alpha is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alpha without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alpha, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alpha
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.