Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Wells earn more than those in 82% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 21.3%; Nevada has 12.4%. For jobs and income Wells is better than 24% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in three work in Wells itself; outside it, Elko draws the most (17%, 46 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Wells, in a few figures
Wells’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Wells is Elko, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 17% of working residents (64) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Wells workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 25 across Nevada. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 92 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; with 369 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Wells earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Wells’ grade up ($107,454, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Wells’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, Wells could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The distance from Wells to work
About 40% 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.
The trip to work from Wells: about 37 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wells workers work from home, vs 12% across Nevada. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 695 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Nevada: 80% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Wells on a workday afternoon
On a workday 255 residents head out to work, 114 work right here, and 382 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Wells on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 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.
Out of Wells to work: where people go
Where Wells clocks in
17% of workers
7% 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.
What the 496 jobs in Wells are
496 jobs are based in Wells.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wells, 2013 → 2023: 596 → 496. 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 Wells’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Wells, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.6% across Nevada.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 740 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). 0.8% of Wells households have no vehicle (Nevada 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Wells’ commuters take a bus or train.
Wells next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700: 3,122nd of 4,866 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 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Mogul NV | 1,050 | $145K | 2.3% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 499 | Verdi NV | 1,012 | $81K | 3.0% | 6.4% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 790 | Osino NV | 1,341 | $93K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,120 | Ransom Township PA | 1,495 | $60K | 22.4% | 14.0% | 1% | C− |
| 3,121 | Toulon IL | 1,172 | $59K | 11.3% | 2.9% | 9% | C− |
| 3,122 | Wells NV | 1,245 | $107K | 21.3% | 5.5% | 31% | C− |
| 3,123 | Holgate OH | 1,050 | $51K | 9.9% | 5.8% | 7% | C− |
| 3,124 | Windham OH | 1,675 | $54K | 23.0% | 5.5% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Wells, the top three, the last and three more from Nevada.
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 Wells: questions
What is the median household income in Wells?
$107,454 (±$8,025) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,260 across Nevada and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wells?
21.3%, against 12.4% across Nevada and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wells?
37 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Nevada and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wells work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elko (17%, 46 mi), Fernley (7%, 247 mi), Sparks (3%, 272 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wells walkable?
Wells is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wells without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wells, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wells
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.