Photo: Smallbones · Public domainHardly anyone in Norton is out of work
For jobs and income Norton is better than 57% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (A−). Measured by household income, Norton is behind 84% of U.S. towns. About one in three work in Norton itself; outside it, Center-District 1 Township draws the most (14%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Norton in brief
Commutes from Norton are quick
The average trip to work takes 7 minutes, against 20 across Kansas. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Norton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Norton fell from 1,881 in 2013 to 1,117 in 2023, −41%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Norton trades workers with the towns around it
Norton has about as many jobs (1,117) as working residents (1,036), but they are mostly different people: 724 residents leave for work each day while 805 people come in. Only 28% of the jobs in Norton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Norton pay little
29% of the jobs based in Norton pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Norton’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Norton’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 10% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Norton could be anywhere from B− to B.
About 7 minutes each way for Norton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 2.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Norton workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 981 commuters (the 15% 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.
Jobs in Norton: what the 1,117 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Norton, 2013 → 2023: 1,881 → 1,117. 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 Norton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Norton on a workday
On a workday 724 residents head out to work, 312 work right here, and 805 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 (1.08 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.
Where the trip to work from Norton ends
Where Norton clocks in
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 commute from Norton, by distance
About 27% 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.
Norton is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,157 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). 3.5% of Norton households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Norton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Norton ranks: 1,865th of 4,797 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Oxford Township KS | 2,058 | $163K | 1.9% | 2.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Minneha Township KS | 3,472 | $143K | 2.1% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,863 | Ridgway Township PA | 2,384 | $77K | 6.5% | 2.6% | 20% | B |
| 1,864 | Falling Waters WV | 2,183 | $88K | 4.3% | 10.8% | <1% | B |
| 1,865 | Norton KS | 2,651 | $53K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 30% | B |
| 1,866 | Jefferson OH | 3,148 | $53K | 6.5% | 1.5% | 13% | B |
| 1,867 | Greene Township IN | 2,947 | $75K | 6.1% | 5.6% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Norton, 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 Norton: questions
What is the median household income in Norton?
$53,125 (±$8,520) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Norton?
3.2%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Norton?
7 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Norton work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Center-District 1 Township (14%, 7 mi), Almena (12%, 10 mi), Wichita (3%, 202 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Norton walkable?
Norton is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Norton without a car?
0% 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 Norton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Norton
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.