Photo: Bsbik · CC BY-SA 4.0How Perry works: jobs, income and commuting
4% of workers work from home; Kansas has 12%. Only 7% work in Perry; the top destination outside it is Topeka (22%, 17 miles). The trip to work takes 26 minutes on average, next to 20 for Kansas and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Perry, in brief
Perry and Topeka trade workers both ways
Topeka is the top workplace for Perry residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Perry come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Perry makes and builds things
55% of the jobs based in Perry are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Perry residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Perry workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 26 minutes each way, against 20 across Kansas. Over a year that’s about 199 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical 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 411 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The towns that employ Perry’s residents
Where Perry clocks in
22% of workers
19% of workers
6% 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.
Perry works in goods: 55% of its jobs
417 jobs are based in Perry.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Perry, 2013 → 2023: 387 → 417. 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 Perry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Perry’s commute takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Perry workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 560 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.
How a workday changes Perry
On a workday 383 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 389 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 (1.01 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.
The distance from Perry to work
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.
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 Perry: questions
What is the median household income in Perry?
$82,375 (±$10,265) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Perry?
7.9%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Perry?
26 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Perry work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Topeka (22%, 17 mi), Lawrence (19%, 10 mi), Oskaloosa (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Perry 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 Perry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Perry
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.