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Work & commute in Dorchester · A commuter town

95% of Dorchester’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Dorchester for work: only 5% work in town. The top destinations are Lincoln (17%), Friend (10%) and Crete (9%). Half commute less than 24 miles.

Work in town
5%
17 of 316 working residents
Typical commute
24 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
21 min
More than NE (19 min)
Work from home
9%
Less than NE (11%)
Jobs based here
130
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Dorchester?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

17% of working residents work in Lincoln

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

RiversideCouncil Bluffs: 3 residents work here (1%)WesternDorchesterFriend: 31 residents work here (10%)Geneva: 4 residents work here (1%)PlattsmouthCrete: 29 residents work here (9%)Seward: 12 residents work here (4%)York: 10 residents work here (3%)BeatriceColumbus: 6 residents work here (2%)Lincoln: 53 residents work here (17%)Omaha: 27 residents work here (9%)LincolnFriendCreteOmahaSewardYorkDorchester
1
Lincoln25.6 mi away
17%53
2
Friend8.8 mi away
10%31
3
Crete8.7 mi away
9%29
4
Omaha69.8 mi away
9%27
5
Dorchester (in town)right here
5%17
6
Seward18.1 mi away
4%12
7
York29.3 mi away
3%10
8
Columbus56 mi away
2%6
9
Geneva26.5 mi away
1%4
10
Council Bluffs, IA77.4 mi away
1%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
39%124
The top trips

Where Dorchester clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Day and night

Dorchester quiets down on a workday

On a workday 299 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 113 people come in from elsewhere.

299live here, work elsewhere
17live and work here
113work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night550
Workday360
550live here− 300head out to work+ 110come in to work= 360on a workday

About 360 people are in Dorchester on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.41jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.41 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

How far

Half of Dorchester commutes less than 24 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miLincoln: 17% · 25.6 miFriend: 10% · 8.8 miCrete: 9% · 8.7 miOmaha: 9% · 69.8 miSeward: 4% · 18.1 miYork: 3% · 29.3 miColumbus: 2% · 56 miGeneva: 1% · 26.5 miCouncil Bluffs: 1% · 77.4 miLincoln 17%Friend 10%Crete 9%Omaha 9%Seward 4%Dorchester
DorchesterTop destinations (size = commuters)
32%Under 10 mi102 residents
23%10–24 mi71 residents
18%25–50 mi58 residents
27%Over 50 mi84 residents

About 27% 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.

The jobs

What the 130 jobs in Dorchester are

130 jobs are based in Dorchester. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Dorchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in DorchesterJobs Dorchester residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms5%28%
Trade, transport & utilities37%24%
Services: health, schools, offices58%47%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less16%13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month20%24%
Over $3,333 a month64%63%

Who does it

29 or younger16%21%
30 to 5452%52%
55 and older32%28%
+9%

Jobs based in Dorchester, 2013 → 2023: 119 → 130. 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.

Time on the road

About 21 minutes each way, about the NE average

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
159 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Dorchester21 min
Nebraska19 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
9%

of Dorchester workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Dorchester

Dorchester home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Dorchester, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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Ask neighbors

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.

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