Photo: Jon Barker · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Holton (1.3%) is lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Holton is behind 85% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Holton is better than 45% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (B+). At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (Kansas 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Holton
Holton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Holton is Topeka, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (333) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Holton workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 12% across Kansas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
Why Holton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Holton’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($52,532, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Holton could be anywhere from C to B.
The distance from Holton to work
About 20% 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.
Holton’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Holton workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,509 commuters (the 4% 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.
Who leaves Holton for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,101 residents head out to work, 556 work right here, and 1,633 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,900 people are in Holton on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 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.
20% of working residents work in Topeka
Where Holton clocks in
20% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Holton’s 2,189 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Holton, 2013 → 2023: 2,084 → 2,189. 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 Holton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Holton, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,572 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). 14.0% of Holton households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Holton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Holton ranks: 2,453rd of 4,402 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Fairway KS | 4,181 | $153K | 3.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Minneha Township KS | 3,472 | $143K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,451 | Green Creek Township OH | 3,448 | $69K | 17.4% | 2.5% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,452 | Sandusky Township OH | 3,562 | $83K | 23.3% | 3.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,453 | Holton KS | 3,396 | $53K | 11.1% | 1.3% | 34% | C+ |
| 2,454 | Shadyside OH | 3,334 | $54K | 8.2% | 2.5% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,455 | Marcus Hook PA | 2,448 | $53K | 13.7% | 4.0% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | 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 Holton, 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 Holton: questions
What is the median household income in Holton?
$52,532 (±$7,787) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Holton?
11.1%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Holton?
24 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Holton work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Topeka (20%, 30 mi), Lawrence (2%, 43 mi), Soldier Township (2%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Holton walkable?
Holton is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Holton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Holton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Holton
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.