Work & commute · Muscle Shoals

Work & commute in Muscle Shoals, AL

About one in 4 of Muscle Shoals’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Florence (21%), Sheffield (8%) and Huntsville (6%). Half commute less than 5 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

24%

1,567 of 6,572 working residents

Typical commute

5 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

14%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 5,005 Muscle Shoals residents head out of town to work, 1,567 work right here, and 10,015 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Muscle Shoals.

5,005live here, work elsewhere

1,567live and work here

10,015work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Muscle Shoals goes to work

Muscle Shoals (in town)right here

24%1,567

Florence6.2 mi away

21%1,352

Sheffield3.7 mi away

8%493

Huntsville54.5 mi away

6%379

Tuscumbia4.2 mi away

4%253

Decatur38.4 mi away

3%204

Russellville17.2 mi away

2%130

Birmingham96.7 mi away

1%90

Athens38.8 mi away

1%65

Homewood100.5 mi away

1%53

Everywhere elseother towns and states

30%1,986

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Muscle Shoals commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

63%

10%

21%

63%Under 10 mi

6%10–24 mi

10%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Muscle Shoals is a job hub

1.76jobs per working resident

A job hub

1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Muscle Shoals are

11,582 jobs are based in Muscle Shoals. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Muscle Shoals’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Muscle Shoals

11,582 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)42%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)36%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month57%

Jobs Muscle Shoals residents hold

6,572 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month56%

+16%

Jobs based in Muscle Shoals, 2013 → 2023: 9,996 → 11,582. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.