Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Barlow works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, where Kentucky as a whole has 10%. Employers in Barlow report 77 jobs for 251 working residents. Only 4% stay in Barlow for work; outside it, Paducah is the main destination (24%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Barlow apart on work
The distance from Barlow to work
About 21% 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.
In and out of Barlow on a workday
On a workday 242 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 68 people come in from elsewhere.
About 460 people are in Barlow on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer 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.
Commuting out of Barlow: the destinations
Where Barlow clocks in
24% of workers
8% of workers
3% 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.
Barlow works in goods: 68% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Barlow, 2013 → 2023: 119 → 77. 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 Barlow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Barlow: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Barlow workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 191 commuters (the 2% 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.
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 Barlow: questions
What is the median household income in Barlow?
$27,054 (±$7,275) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Barlow?
36.9%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Barlow?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Barlow work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paducah (24%, 22 mi), La Center (8%, 4 mi), Calvert City (3%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Barlow without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Barlow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Barlow
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.