Photo: The All Nite Images · CC BY-SA 2.0Earning a living in Chapman
For jobs and income Chapman is better than 32% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (C−). Only 7% work in Chapman itself; outside it, Abilene draws the most (18%, 12 miles). Commuters spend 23 minutes getting to work on average, next to 20 for Kansas and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Chapman: the figures worth knowing
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Chapman
Household income holds Chapman’s grade up ($72,344, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.2%) is left out: Chapman’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Chapman could be anywhere from D to B.
Where the trip to work from Chapman ends
Where Chapman clocks in
18% of workers
9% 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.
In and out of Chapman on a workday
On a workday 457 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 292 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Chapman on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
In Chapman, services account for most jobs
329 jobs are based in Chapman.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chapman, 2013 → 2023: 433 → 329. 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 Chapman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way, longer than most of Kansas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chapman workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 595 commuters (the 7% 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.
How far Chapman’s workers travel
About 26% 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.
Few in Chapman walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 638 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). 4.8% of Chapman households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chapman’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Chapman ranks: 3,171st of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,169 | Perry Township PA | 1,297 | $60K | 7.2% | 3.4% | 7% | C |
| 3,170 | New Shoreham RI | 1,408 | $83K | 9.4% | 9.9% | 62% | C |
| 3,171 | Chapman KS | 1,380 | $72K | 11.2% | 4.2% | 7% | C |
| 3,172 | West Unity OH | 1,735 | $67K | 12.6% | 8.2% | 6% | C |
| 3,173 | Tatum TX | 1,403 | $77K | 18.2% | 5.9% | 9% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Chapman, 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 Chapman: questions
What is the median household income in Chapman?
$72,344 (±$15,248) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chapman?
11.2%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chapman?
23 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chapman work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Abilene (18%, 12 mi), Salina (11%, 34 mi), Junction City (9%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chapman walkable?
Chapman is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chapman without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chapman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chapman
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.