Photo: Corey Graese · CC BY-SA 4.0Ashland has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 11,543 people commute in to work
Household incomes here are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns. Employers in Ashland report 14,661 jobs for 7,967 working residents. Ashland grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Ashland
Ashland is where the jobs are
Ashland has 14,661 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most Ashland residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Ashland draws workers from far and wide
The 14,661 jobs in Ashland are filled from a wide area. Ashland’s own residents hold 21% and the ten next-biggest home towns 23%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
How Ashland earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ashland is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #110 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Ashland’s grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (22.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ashland could be anywhere from D to C.
Who leaves Ashland for work, and who comes in
On a workday 4,849 residents head out to work and 3,118 work right here.
About 28,000 people are in Ashland on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How far Ashland’s workers travel
About 19% 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.
The daily trip into Ashland
Where Ashland clocks in
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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashland, 2013 → 2023: 15,155 → 14,661. 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 Ashland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Ashland takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashland workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,138 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Kentucky: 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.
Ashland is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashland is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #25 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Ashland 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 8,794 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). 12.4% of Ashland households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Ashland’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ashland compares with U.S. towns of 15,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 257 | Burlington KY | 18,008 | $109K | 5.5% | 2.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 396 | Fort Thomas KY | 17,142 | $104K | 6.1% | 3.5% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 639 | Mount Washington KY | 18,989 | $96K | 5.3% | 4.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,599 | West Pensacola FL | 20,665 | $41K | 25.8% | 6.7% | 5% | C− |
| 1,600 | Brownwood TX | 18,635 | $49K | 20.9% | 4.8% | 42% | C− |
| 1,601 | Ashland KY | 20,996 | $53K | 22.4% | 7.7% | 39% | C− |
| 1,602 | Kirksville MO | 17,863 | $50K | 28.2% | 4.0% | 49% | C− |
| 1,603 | Wasco CA | 26,525 | $52K | 18.4% | 7.0% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,705 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Ashland, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Around Ashland: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Catlettsburg (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ashland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland | – | C− | A− | 21 min | $52,715 |
| Westwood | 1% | B− | C | 22 min | $73,511 |
| Catlettsburg | 2% | C− | B+ | 18 min | $38,276 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ashland’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Ashland: questions
What is the median household income in Ashland?
$52,715 (±$5,321) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashland?
22.4%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashland?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashland work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Huntington (6%, 12 mi), Lexington (3%, 102 mi), Russell (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashland walkable?
Ashland is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashland without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashland
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.