Alliance, Nebraska
Locals complain that while this small city in western Nebraska is an agricultural center as well as an important rail hub, it lacks more diverse employment opportunities. BNSF Railway, which is one of the city’s largest employers and which cut dozens of jobs in May 2020, rekindled memories of the devastating job losses that occurred during the Great Recession of 2008. Railroads were already suffering from a drop in coal demand prior to the pandemic, so full recovery may be years away at this point. Although the median household income in Alliance is a respectable $48,805, the unemployment rate in the city is nearly twice as high as the state average.
Alliance, Nebraska
Denison, Iowa
Denison, the county seat of Crawford County, has a reputable median family income of $54,190, but the city has an unemployment rate that is almost three times higher than the state average of 5.6 percent. A large number of long-term residents and young people have left Denison in recent years as wages at the city’s critical meatpacking plants have been cut. In the early 2000s, a swarm of mostly Mexican immigrants descended on the city to take their places, content to collect a still-substantial paycheck in exchange. Nonetheless, these positions have not been stable for them either. Denison’s economic disaster response plan was activated in 2015 when Tyson Foods closed its beef packing plant in the city, negatively impacting 400 employees and provoking the city’s economic disaster response plan.
Denison, Iowa