Alliance, Nebraska
While this small city in western Nebraska is an agricultural center and an important rail hub, residents complain that it lacks more diverse employment opportunities. The city’s largest employer, BNSF Railway, announced dozens of job cuts in May 2020, bringing back memories of the devastating job losses that occurred during the Great Recession of 2008. Before the pandemic, railroads were already experiencing a drop in coal demand, so full recovery could take years. Even though Alliance’s median household income is a respectable $48,805, the city’s unemployment rate is nearly twice that of the state.
Alliance, Nebraska
Denison, Iowa
Denison, Crawford County’s county seat, has a respectable median family income of $54,190, but the city’s unemployment rate is nearly three times higher than the state average of 5.6 percent. As wages at the city’s critical meatpacking plants have been cut, a large number of long-term residents and young people have left Denison in recent years. In the early 2000s, a swarm of mostly Mexican immigrants descended on the city to take their jobs, content to be paid a still-substantial wage. Nonetheless, they have not been able to maintain these positions. When Tyson Foods closed its beef packing plant in Denison in 2015, the city’s economic disaster response plan was activated, affecting 400 employees and triggering the city’s economic disaster response plan.
Denison, Iowa
