Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Lebanon works elsewhere
Employers in Lebanon report 37 jobs for 70 working residents. Hardly any work in Lebanon; the top destination outside it is Smith Center (26%, 12 miles). 0% of workers work from home, where Kansas as a whole has 12%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Lebanon, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 70 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 37 people come in from elsewhere.
About 150 people are in Lebanon on a workday afternoon, 18% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Lebanon: the destinations
Where Lebanon clocks in
26% of workers
11% of workers
3% 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 Lebanon
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lebanon, 2014 → 2024: 37 → 37. 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 Lebanon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 19 minutes each way for Lebanon’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lebanon workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 92 commuters (the 0% 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 many miles Lebanon commutes
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 2024.
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 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 Lebanon: questions
What is the median household income in Lebanon?
$41,250 (±$12,930) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lebanon?
12.0%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lebanon?
19 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lebanon work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Smith Center (26%, 12 mi), Kensington (11%, 25 mi), Cawker City (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Lebanon without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lebanon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lebanon
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.