Atchinson Santa Fe Freight Depot · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Atchison has lower household incomes than 82% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Atchison C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 15.8% of residents are in poverty; Kansas has 11.3%. About two in five stay in Atchison for work; outside it, St. Joseph is the main destination (6%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Atchison: the figures worth knowing
The quickest commute around
Atchison’s 18-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 22 to 46 minutes. Next door ↓
Many jobs in Atchison pay little
26% of the jobs based in Atchison pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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.
What’s behind Atchison’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Atchison is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #134 of 151 in Kansas. Job access by car holds Atchison’s grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($54,474, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Atchison could be anywhere from D to B−.
The 4,656 jobs based in Atchison
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Atchison, 2013 → 2023: 4,733 → 4,656. 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 Atchison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Atchison
On a workday 2,553 residents head out to work, 1,713 work right here, and 2,943 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.09 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Atchison commutes to
Where Atchison clocks in
6% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines 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.
The daily trip from Atchison: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Atchison workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,313 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% 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.
Where in the region Atchison works
About 15% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Atchison
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Atchison is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #22 of 151 in Kansas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across Kansas, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,719 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 11.0% of Atchison households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Atchison’s commuters take a bus or train.
Atchison is 2,176th of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 437 | Spring Hill KS | 10,777 | $112K | 7.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 457 | Attica Township KS | 9,068 | $94K | 3.7% | 2.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 514 | Mission Township KS | 10,195 | $122K | 4.5% | 3.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,174 | Park Hills MO | 8,753 | $53K | 14.4% | 5.9% | 13% | C− |
| 2,175 | Bluefield WV | 9,158 | $49K | 18.5% | 4.4% | 16% | C− |
| 2,176 | Atchison KS | 10,789 | $54K | 15.8% | 5.3% | 40% | C− |
| 2,177 | Jennings MO | 13,093 | $39K | 25.2% | 8.9% | 2% | C− |
| 2,178 | Saybrook Township OH | 9,566 | $58K | 13.5% | 7.5% | 9% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Atchison, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
Work in the towns next to Atchison
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Atchison workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atchison | – | C− | A− | 18 min | $54,474 |
| Shannon Township | under 2% | B− | D | 25 min | $98,015 |
| Lancaster Township | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Walnut Township | under 2% | — | — | 46 min | — |
| Mount Pleasant Township | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lancaster Township, Walnut Township and Mount Pleasant Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Atchison’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Atchison: questions
What is the median household income in Atchison?
$54,474 (±$9,077) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Atchison?
15.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Atchison?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Atchison work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Joseph (6%, 22 mi), Kansas City (5%, 44 mi), Leavenworth (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Atchison walkable?
Atchison is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Atchison without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Atchison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Atchison
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.