St. Fidelis Catholic Church · Photo: RobLa · CC BY-SA 4.0For about half of its working residents, Victoria is a commute to Hays
Only 5% stay in Victoria for work; outside it, Hays is the main destination (48%, 10 miles). The two grades for Victoria are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Commuters spend 18 minutes getting to work on average, where Kansas has 20 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Victoria
The four measures behind Victoria’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Victoria is better than 37% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Victoria’s grade up ($77,500, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Victoria’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Victoria could be anywhere from D to B+.
Out of Victoria to work: where people go
Where Victoria clocks in
Lines 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.
Victoria quiets down on a workday
On a workday 459 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 136 people come in from elsewhere.
About 810 people are in Victoria on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.33 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.
Factories, building and farms: 33% of the jobs in Victoria
162 jobs are based in Victoria.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Victoria, 2014 → 2024: 181 → 162. 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 Victoria’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Victoria: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Victoria workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 578 commuters (the 8% 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.
Where in the region Victoria works
About 26% 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.
Getting around Victoria: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Victoria is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Victoria 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 629 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). 0.0% of Victoria households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Victoria’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,794th of 3,771: where Victoria ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lake Quivira KS | 1,005 | $178K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Delaware Township KS | 1,121 | $119K | 2.4% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Kanwaka Township KS | 1,493 | $126K | 2.5% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,792 | Wayne Township OH | 1,429 | $72K | 5.9% | 8.3% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,793 | East Hazel Crest IL | 1,250 | $55K | 24.3% | 13.4% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,794 | Victoria KS | 1,134 | $78K | 9.5% | 1.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 1,795 | Millbourne PA | 1,210 | $54K | 24.3% | 3.0% | <1% | C+ |
| 1,796 | North Apollo PA | 1,212 | $67K | 15.7% | 1.7% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Victoria, 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 Victoria: questions
What is the median household income in Victoria?
$77,500 (±$17,530) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Victoria?
9.5%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Victoria?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Victoria work?
5% work in town.
Is Victoria walkable?
Victoria is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Victoria without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Victoria, from the people who make the trip.
More of Victoria
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.