Photo: Steve Meirowsky · CC BY 2.0Durham has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
A typical one-way commute lasts 21 minutes, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. Durham has 26 jobs, and 65 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Durham itself; outside it, Marion draws the most (12%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The workday shuffle in and out of Durham
On a workday 65 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 26 people come in from elsewhere.
About 51 people are in Durham on a workday afternoon, 43% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where people from Durham work
Where Durham clocks in
12% 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.
The kinds of work in Durham
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Durham, 2013 → 2023: 23 → 26. 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 Durham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Durham takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Durham workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 43 commuters (the 12% 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 Durham works
About 34% 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.
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 Durham: questions
What is the median household income in Durham?
$70,313 (±$18,615) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Durham?
4.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Durham?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Durham work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marion (12%, 15 mi), Lost Springs (9%, 15 mi), Topeka (9%, 91 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Durham without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Durham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Durham
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.