Butler County Courthouse · Photo: MadameGraffigny · CC BY-SA 3.0El Dorado has lower household incomes than 75% of U.S. towns
16.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.3% across Kansas. The two grades for El Dorado are C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in three work in El Dorado; the top destination outside it is Wichita (28%, 28 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in El Dorado
Where El Dorado’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, El Dorado is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #103 of 151 in Kansas. Unemployment holds El Dorado’s grade up (3.3%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, El Dorado could be anywhere from C− to B.
Where the trip to work from El Dorado ends
Where El Dorado clocks in
28% 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.
A workday in El Dorado: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,613 residents head out to work, 1,874 work right here, and 3,983 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 (1.07 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
What El Dorado’s employers do
5,857 jobs are based in El Dorado.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in El Dorado, 2014 → 2024: 7,002 → 5,857. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs El Dorado’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from El Dorado takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of El Dorado workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,811 commuters (the 5% 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.
El Dorado’s commute, mile by mile
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
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: El Dorado
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, El Dorado is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #24 of 151 in Kansas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across Kansas, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,089 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). 6.2% of El Dorado households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of El Dorado’s commuters take a bus or train.
El Dorado places 1,661st of 2,354 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Spring Hill KS | 10,777 | $112K | 7.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 438 | Attica Township KS | 9,068 | $94K | 3.7% | 2.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 493 | Mission Township KS | 10,195 | $122K | 4.5% | 3.3% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,659 | Millersville PA | 9,280 | $68K | 23.1% | 5.0% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,660 | Snyder TX | 11,166 | $58K | 12.4% | 1.3% | 33% | C+ |
| 1,661 | El Dorado KS | 12,696 | $59K | 16.6% | 3.3% | 34% | C+ |
| 1,662 | Livingston MT | 9,290 | $66K | 13.7% | 1.9% | 37% | C+ |
| 1,663 | Niles Township MI | 14,304 | $63K | 18.4% | 4.0% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 El Dorado, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
El Dorado and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to El Dorado Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | El Dorado workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Dorado | – | C+ | A− | 18 min | $59,180 |
| El Dorado Township | 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Prospect Township | under 2% | C | C− | 31 min | $59,167 |
Same-state neighbors only. El Dorado Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of El Dorado’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 2024, 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 El Dorado: questions
What is the median household income in El Dorado?
$59,180 (±$6,349) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in El Dorado?
16.6%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from El Dorado?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in El Dorado work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wichita (28%, 28 mi), Spring Township (2%, 9 mi), El Dorado Township (2%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is El Dorado walkable?
El Dorado is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around El Dorado without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from El Dorado, from the people who make the trip.
More of El Dorado
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.