Work & commute · Orange Beach

Work & commute in Orange Beach, AL

About one in 4 of Orange Beach’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Gulf Shores (13%), Mobile (11%) and Foley (8%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

28%

881 of 3,151 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

22%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,270 Orange Beach residents head out of town to work, 881 work right here, and 6,289 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Orange Beach.

2,270live here, work elsewhere

881live and work here

6,289work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Orange Beach goes to work

Orange Beach (in town)right here

28%881

Gulf Shores6.5 mi away

13%409

Mobile40 mi away

11%332

Foley8.4 mi away

8%256

Pensacola, FL26.1 mi away

3%86

Daphne28.4 mi away

2%64

Fairhope23.1 mi away

2%63

Birmingham228.2 mi away

1%44

Bay Minette42.9 mi away

1%39

Montgomery162.2 mi away

1%35

Everywhere elseother towns and states

30%942

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

How far

How far Orange Beach commutes

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

48%

13%

22%

16%

48%Under 10 mi

13%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

16%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Orange Beach is a job hub

2.28jobs per working resident

A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Orange Beach are

7,170 jobs are based in Orange Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Orange Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Orange Beach

7,170 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month48%

Jobs Orange Beach residents hold

3,151 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month55%

+47%

Jobs based in Orange Beach, 2013 → 2023: 4,876 → 7,170. 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.