Alpena Bathhouse and Swimming Pool · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Alpena has 8.6 jobs for every working resident: 690 people commute in to work
About one in seven stay in Alpena for work; outside it, Wessington Springs is the main destination (39%, 12 miles). Alpena has 703 jobs, against 82 working residents. Working residents average 14 minutes each way, next to 18 for South Dakota and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Alpena, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 69 residents head out to work and 13 work right here.
About 840 people are in Alpena on a workday afternoon, 289% more 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.
Commuting in to Alpena: where workers come from
Where Alpena clocks in
39% 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.
Goods, not services: 92% of the jobs in Alpena
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alpena, 2013 → 2023: 930 → 703. 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 Alpena’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Alpena takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alpena workers work from home, vs 10% across South Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 158 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across South Dakota: 85% 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.
Miles to work from Alpena
About 22% 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 Alpena: questions
What is the median household income in Alpena?
$66,667 (±$25,278) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,081 across South Dakota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alpena?
6.6%, against 11.9% across South Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alpena?
14 minutes each way on average, against 18 across South Dakota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alpena work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wessington Springs (39%, 12 mi), Huron (7%, 15 mi), Mitchell (5%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alpena without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alpena, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alpena
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.