Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Liberal has lower household incomes than 68% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 13.1%, where Kansas as a whole has 11.3%. Jobs and income earn Liberal C; getting around on foot earns it B. Home is the office for 3% of workers, against 12% across Kansas.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Liberal apart on work
Most jobs in Liberal go to people who live here
Of the 9,218 jobs based in Liberal, 61% are held by Liberal residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Liberal makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Liberal are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Liberal residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 43%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Liberal are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 20 across Kansas. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Liberal workers work from home
Only 3% 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.
The figures behind Liberal’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Liberal is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #124 of 151 in Kansas. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Liberal’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Liberal could be anywhere from D to B−.
The daily flow of workers through Liberal
On a workday 2,970 residents head out to work, 5,614 work right here, and 3,604 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 2023, primary jobs.
42% of the jobs in Liberal make or build things
9,218 jobs are based in Liberal.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Liberal, 2013 → 2023: 10,640 → 9,218. 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 Liberal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Liberal spends getting to work: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Liberal workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,355 commuters (the 3% 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.
6% of working residents work in Guymon
Where Liberal clocks in
3% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Liberal
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.
Driving is how Liberal gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Liberal is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #63 of 151 in Kansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.4% across Kansas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,652 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). 10.3% of Liberal households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Liberal’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 13,000 to 26,000, Liberal ranks 1,685th of 2,023 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 255 | Prairie Village KS | 23,008 | $114K | 5.7% | 3.0% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 350 | Andover KS | 17,370 | $105K | 4.6% | 2.7% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 428 | Bruno Township KS | 19,221 | $103K | 5.3% | 2.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,683 | Ensley FL | 23,760 | $59K | 17.5% | 6.1% | 7% | C |
| 1,684 | LaSalle Township IL | 13,152 | $61K | 16.1% | 5.3% | 14% | C |
| 1,685 | Liberal KS | 19,010 | $64K | 13.1% | 5.2% | 65% | C |
| 1,686 | Claremont NH | 13,032 | $59K | 13.5% | 4.2% | 27% | C |
| 1,687 | Livingston CA | 14,690 | $74K | 17.1% | 11.6% | 17% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,023 | 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 Liberal, 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 Liberal: questions
What is the median household income in Liberal?
$63,706 (±$9,756) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Liberal?
13.1%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Liberal?
14 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Liberal work?
65% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Guymon (6%, 39 mi), Garden City (3%, 64 mi), Wichita (2%, 202 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Liberal walkable?
Liberal is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Liberal without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Liberal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Liberal
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.