Photo: Ian Ballinger · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Baldwin City (6.1%) than in 75% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Baldwin City itself; outside it, Lawrence draws the most (17%, 13 miles). Baldwin City grades B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 26 minutes, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Baldwin City in brief
Baldwin City and Lawrence trade workers both ways
Lawrence is the top workplace for Baldwin City residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Baldwin City come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Baldwin City workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 26 minutes each way, against 20 across Kansas. Over a year that’s about 199 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Many jobs in Baldwin City pay little
27% of the jobs based in Baldwin City 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 Baldwin City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Baldwin City is better than 53% of U.S. towns, #77 of 151 in Kansas. The poverty rate holds Baldwin City’s grade up (5.8%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Baldwin City could be anywhere from C to A.
Where people from Baldwin City work
Where Baldwin City clocks in
17% of workers
7% 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.
About 26 minutes to work from Baldwin City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Baldwin City workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,697 commuters (the 18% 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.
Baldwin City is a services town
1,601 jobs are based in Baldwin City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Baldwin City, 2013 → 2023: 1,527 → 1,601. 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 Baldwin City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Baldwin City by day and by night
On a workday 1,840 residents head out to work, 322 work right here, and 1,279 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,400 people are in Baldwin City on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.74 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.
Half of Baldwin City commutes less than 20 miles
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Baldwin City
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Baldwin City is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #9 of 151 in Kansas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across Kansas, 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 2,060 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 9.1% of Baldwin City households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Baldwin City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Baldwin City is 1,865th among 3,692 U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Fairway KS | 4,181 | $153K | 3.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Aubry Township KS | 4,719 | $134K | 0.7% | 1.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,863 | Social Circle GA | 5,537 | $89K | 6.7% | 6.6% | 9% | B− |
| 1,864 | Winterset IA | 5,520 | $68K | 10.3% | 3.0% | 27% | B− |
| 1,865 | Baldwin City KS | 4,946 | $73K | 5.8% | 6.1% | 15% | B− |
| 1,866 | Carolina Shores NC | 5,540 | $76K | 3.9% | 3.9% | 3% | B− |
| 1,867 | Olyphant PA | 5,390 | $66K | 8.8% | 4.7% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | 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 Baldwin City, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
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 Baldwin City: questions
What is the median household income in Baldwin City?
$72,941 (±$12,197) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Baldwin City?
5.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Baldwin City?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Baldwin City work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lawrence (17%, 13 mi), Overland Park (9%, 28 mi), Topeka (7%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Baldwin City walkable?
Baldwin City is more walkable than 85% 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 Baldwin City without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Baldwin City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Baldwin City
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.