Drees House · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Work, pay and getting to work in Hays
5% of workers have no commute at all, against 12% across Kansas. The two grades for Hays are C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. More than half work in Hays itself; outside it, Big Creek Township draws the most (7%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Hays, in a few figures
Most jobs in Hays go to people who live here
Of the 11,501 jobs based in Hays, 48% are held by Hays residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Hays are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 20 across Kansas. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kansas worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hays
On family income, poverty and job access, Hays is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #108 of 151 in Kansas. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hays’ grade.
21% of Hays’ residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (16% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 12.7%, against 20.1% for all residents. Unemployment (3.6%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($89,798), since student households pull the household median down ($58,459).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Hays could be anywhere from C to B−.
Who leaves Hays for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,310 residents head out to work, 5,535 work right here, and 5,966 people come in from elsewhere.
About 24,000 people are in Hays on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.30 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.
A commute of about 11 minutes in Hays
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hays workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,304 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.
The places Hays commutes to
Where Hays clocks in
2% of workers
1% 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 11,501 jobs based in Hays
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hays, 2013 → 2023: 11,513 → 11,501. 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 Hays’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Hays
About 22% 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.
Hays is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hays is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #4 of 151 in Kansas. Both inputs place Hays near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,930 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). 4.2% of Hays households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hays’ commuters take a bus or train.
Hays next to U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000: 1,375th of 1,787 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 214 | Prairie Village KS | 23,008 | $114K | 5.7% | 3.0% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 312 | Andover KS | 17,370 | $105K | 4.6% | 2.7% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 382 | Bruno Township KS | 19,221 | $103K | 5.3% | 2.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,373 | Oak Harbor WA | 24,083 | $76K | 8.3% | 5.4% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,374 | Brenham TX | 19,957 | $65K | 18.9% | 3.5% | 36% | C+ |
| 1,375 | Hays KS | 21,258 | $58K | 20.1% | 3.6% | 63% | C+ |
| 1,376 | Emporia KS | 24,137 | $53K | 17.8% | 2.0% | 60% | C+ |
| 1,377 | Gautier MS | 19,069 | $62K | 17.5% | 3.8% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Hays, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
Work in the towns next to Hays
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hays workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hays | – | C+ | A | 11 min | $58,459 |
| Big Creek Township | 7% | B+ | B− | 19 min | $90,333 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Big Creek Township. Darker towns draw more of Hays’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.
- Students. 21% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Hays: questions
What is the median household income in Hays?
$58,459 (±$4,000) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hays?
20.1% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 12.7%. Kansas: 11.3%.
How long is the commute from Hays?
11 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hays work?
63% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Big Creek Township (7%, 8 mi), Wichita (2%, 135 mi), Great Bend (1%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hays walkable?
Hays is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hays without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hays, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hays
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.