Unemployment in Kayenta (13.5%) is higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 6.7 in Phoenix. For jobs and income Kayenta is better than 2% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (A). Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers; Arizona has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Kayenta: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
45% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
31% of Kayenta works in Oljato-Monument Valley
277 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Oljato-Monument Valley, 19 miles away. That’s more than work in Kayenta itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Kayenta
57% of Kayenta residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 32% of the jobs based in Kayenta pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 83% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 881 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Kayenta’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Household income holds Kayenta’s grade up ($58,423, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (37.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kayenta could be anywhere from D− to D.
The distance from Kayenta to work
About 45% 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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
31% of working residents work in Oljato-Monument Valley
Where Kayenta clocks in
Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Kayenta
549 jobs are based in Kayenta.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kayenta, 2013 → 2023: 838 → 549. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Kayenta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kayenta
On a workday 735 residents head out to work, 146 work right here, and 403 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.62 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.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Kayenta
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kayenta workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,556 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Kayenta is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,683 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 49% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.3% of Kayenta households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Kayenta’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,700, and where Kayenta sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 373 | Citrus Park AZ | 5,115 | $141K | 8.8% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 464 | Rincon Valley AZ | 6,512 | $132K | 4.1% | 1.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,211 | Cave Creek AZ | 5,160 | $107K | 7.2% | 2.7% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,868 | Ahoskie NC | 4,608 | $41K | 27.7% | 11.7% | 26% | D− |
| 3,869 | Henryetta OK | 5,620 | $45K | 30.3% | 10.8% | 20% | D− |
| 3,870 | Kayenta AZ | 4,927 | $58K | 37.7% | 13.5% | 17% | D− |
| 3,871 | Prestonsburg KY | 3,618 | $26K | 45.3% | 19.3% | 35% | D− |
| 3,872 | Winnfield LA | 4,480 | $42K | 37.8% | 11.8% | 32% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,907 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Kayenta, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Kayenta: questions
What is the median household income in Kayenta?
$58,423 (±$7,579) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kayenta?
37.7%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kayenta?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kayenta work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oljato-Monument Valley (31%, 19 mi), St. Michaels (7%, 98 mi), Cibecue (6%, 186 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kayenta walkable?
Kayenta is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kayenta without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kayenta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kayenta
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.