Photo: Kswx29 · CC BY 3.0For about half of its working residents, Silver Lake is a commute to Topeka
Household incomes here are lower than in 79% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Silver Lake B−; getting around on foot earns it B+. Only 7% work in Silver Lake; the top destination outside it is Topeka (47%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Silver Lake, in brief
Nearly half of Silver Lake works in Topeka
280 working residents, 47%, have their main job in Topeka, 9.7 miles away. That’s 7 times as many as work in Silver Lake itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Silver Lake
63% of Silver Lake residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 42% of the jobs based in Silver Lake pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 599 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Silver Lake’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Silver Lake is better than 46% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Silver Lake’s grade up (5.3%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($56,834, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Silver Lake’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, Silver Lake could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Out of Silver Lake to work: where people go
Where Silver Lake clocks in
47% 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.
Most jobs in Silver Lake are in services
332 jobs are based in Silver Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Silver Lake, 2014 → 2024: 247 → 332. 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 Silver Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Silver Lake
On a workday 560 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 293 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Silver Lake on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.55 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
About 21 minutes each way, about the KS average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Silver Lake workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 577 commuters (the 14% 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.
Silver Lake’s commute, mile by mile
About 16% 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.
The commute in Silver Lake is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Silver Lake is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Silver Lake near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 668 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.5% of Silver Lake households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Silver Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,082nd of 5,400: where Silver Lake ranks among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,080 | Tahoe Vista CA | 1,048 | $113K | 9.1% | 3.5% | 5% | B− |
| 2,081 | Dunlap OH | 1,085 | $73K | 20.6% | 2.9% | 1% | B− |
| 2,082 | Silver Lake KS | 1,316 | $57K | 5.3% | 0.0% | 7% | B− |
| 2,083 | Vernon Township OH | 1,327 | $55K | 6.1% | 4.8% | 2% | B− |
| 2,084 | Fallon Station NV | 1,399 | $67K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 0% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Silver Lake, 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 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 Silver Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Silver Lake?
$56,834 (±$1,368) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Silver Lake?
5.3%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Silver Lake?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Silver Lake work?
7% work in town.
Is Silver Lake walkable?
Silver Lake is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Silver Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Silver Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Silver Lake
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. 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.