Alabama has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers, next to 15% for New York as a whole. 146 jobs are based in Alabama, against 711 working residents. Jobs and income earn Alabama B; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Alabama and work: the main findings
Why Alabama gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Alabama is better than 62% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Alabama’s grade. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (5.3%) is left out: Alabama’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Alabama could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Who leaves Alabama for work, and who comes in
On a workday 699 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 134 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Alabama on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
9% of working residents work in Batavia
Where Alabama clocks in
9% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
A place that makes things: 49% of Alabama’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alabama, 2013 → 2023: 203 → 146. 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 Alabama’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Alabama: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alabama workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 824 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Half of Alabama commutes less than 18 miles
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.
Alabama is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alabama is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 3.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 869 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). 6.0% of Alabama households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alabama’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200, Alabama ranks 1,562nd of 6,161 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,560 | Kalamo Township MI | 1,776 | $87K | 7.7% | 5.2% | 1% | B |
| 1,561 | Goodrich MI | 2,003 | $110K | 7.0% | 7.8% | 4% | B |
| 1,562 | Alabama NY | 1,596 | $82K | 7.9% | 5.3% | 2% | B |
| 1,563 | Liberty Township OH | 1,727 | $70K | 5.5% | 4.6% | 1% | B |
| 1,564 | Indian Springs GA | 2,070 | $81K | 1.0% | 5.5% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Alabama, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Alabama and its neighbors: 13% work next door
The biggest share goes to Newstead (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alabama workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | – | B | C− | 30 min | $81,833 |
| Pembroke | 6% | B+ | C | 26 min | $91,534 |
| Shelby | under 4% | C+ | B− | 26 min | $65,655 |
| Oakfield | under 4% | C+ | C | 25 min | $67,067 |
| Royalton | under 4% | B | C+ | 33 min | $92,373 |
| Newstead | 7% | B | B− | 24 min | $71,200 |
| Barre | under 4% | C− | D | 21 min | $73,906 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alabama’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 Alabama: questions
What is the median household income in Alabama?
$81,833 (±$10,696) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alabama?
7.9%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alabama?
30 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alabama work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Batavia (9%, 11 mi), Newstead (7%, 9 mi), Pembroke (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alabama walkable?
Alabama is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 3.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alabama without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alabama, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alabama
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.