Photo: Jmorgan1959 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Osborne have lower incomes than those in 86% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, next to 12% for Kansas as a whole. 9.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.3% across Kansas. For jobs and income Osborne is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Osborne and work: the main findings
Fewer jobs are based in Osborne than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Osborne fell from 750 in 2013 to 524 in 2023, −30%. 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Osborne workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Osborne’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 26% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Osborne 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 ↓
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; with 512 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Osborne’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Osborne’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Osborne’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Osborne could be anywhere from D to C.
What work there is in Osborne: 524 jobs
524 jobs are based in Osborne.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Osborne, 2013 → 2023: 750 → 524. 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 Osborne’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 14 minutes each way, quicker than most of Kansas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Osborne workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 677 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.
The daily flow of workers through Osborne
On a workday 387 residents head out to work, 125 work right here, and 399 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 (1.02 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.
10% of working residents work in Downs
Where Osborne clocks in
7% 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.
How many miles Osborne commutes
About 24% 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.
In Osborne, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across Kansas, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 699 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). 1.2% of Osborne households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Osborne’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Osborne ranks 3,746th of 4,866 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 96 | Delaware Township KS | 1,121 | $119K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,744 | Mount Vernon AL | 1,385 | $46K | 17.8% | 2.7% | 2% | D |
| 3,745 | Dunsmuir CA | 1,587 | $58K | 11.4% | 9.8% | 18% | D |
| 3,746 | Osborne KS | 1,249 | $52K | 9.3% | 1.1% | 24% | D |
| 3,747 | Holiday Lakes TX | 1,059 | $45K | 32.6% | 11.1% | <1% | D |
| 3,748 | Mill Creek Township KS | 1,008 | $62K | 12.9% | 2.5% | 9% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Osborne, 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 Osborne: questions
What is the median household income in Osborne?
$51,776 (±$13,203) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Osborne?
9.3%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Osborne?
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 Osborne work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Downs (10%, 9 mi), Natoma (7%, 25 mi), Beloit (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Osborne walkable?
Osborne is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Osborne without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Osborne, from the people who make the trip.
More of Osborne
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.