Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Barbourville ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Below the poverty line: 51.8% of residents, where Kentucky as a whole has 16.1%. Jobs and income earn Barbourville D−; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Barbourville, in a few figures
Barbourville is where the jobs are
Barbourville has 2,941 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,900 people are in town, 61% more than the 3,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Barbourville is services
95% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Barbourville
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Barbourville is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #137 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Barbourville’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($22,046, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Barbourville could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How many people are in Barbourville by day
On a workday 714 residents head out to work, 345 work right here, and 2,596 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,900 people are in Barbourville on a workday afternoon, 61% more than live here.
2.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Barbourville
2,941 jobs are based in Barbourville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Barbourville, 2014 → 2024: 3,111 → 2,941. 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 Barbourville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Barbourville live
Where Barbourville clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
Time on the road from Barbourville: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Barbourville workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 804 commuters (the 13% 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.
How far Barbourville’s workers travel
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Barbourville commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Barbourville is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #39 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Barbourville 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 926 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). 31.7% of Barbourville households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Barbourville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Barbourville compares with U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Lakeside Park KY | 2,847 | $129K | 1.5% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| 15 | Indian Hills KY | 2,939 | $192K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Windy Hills KY | 2,476 | $131K | 5.1% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,585 | Lac du Flambeau WI | 3,659 | $57K | 23.7% | 10.1% | 46% | D− |
| 4,586 | Louisa KY | 2,520 | $40K | 22.3% | 11.1% | 33% | D− |
| 4,587 | Barbourville KY | 3,064 | $22K | 51.8% | 8.6% | 33% | D− |
| 4,588 | Mountain View MO | 2,661 | $39K | 29.4% | 6.2% | 15% | D− |
| 4,589 | Stigler OK | 2,749 | $43K | 18.8% | 9.0% | 35% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Barbourville, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
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 Barbourville: questions
What is the median household income in Barbourville?
$22,046 (±$6,693) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Barbourville?
51.8%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Barbourville?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Barbourville work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Corbin (6%, 13 mi), London (5%, 20 mi), Lexington (3%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Barbourville walkable?
Barbourville is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Barbourville without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 32% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Barbourville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Barbourville
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.