Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Beaver Dam (12.5%) is higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
2% of workers have no commute at all, where Kentucky as a whole has 10%. For jobs and income Beaver Dam is better than 15% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (C−). Measured by household income, Beaver Dam is behind 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Beaver Dam stands out on work
Beaver Dam trades workers with the towns around it
Beaver Dam has about as many jobs (1,357) as working residents (1,284), but they are mostly different people: 1,164 residents leave for work each day while 1,237 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in Beaver Dam are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Beaver Dam workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 24 across Kentucky. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Many jobs in Beaver Dam pay little
28% of the jobs based in Beaver Dam pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 31% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Few Beaver Dam workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Beaver Dam: the grade in detail
The poverty rate holds Beaver Dam’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Beaver Dam could be anywhere from D to B.
The daily commute in and out of Beaver Dam
On a workday 1,164 residents head out to work, 120 work right here, and 1,237 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.06 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Beaver Dam’s commute takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Beaver Dam workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,251 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.
Goods, not services: 29% of the jobs in Beaver Dam
1,357 jobs are based in Beaver Dam.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Beaver Dam, 2013 → 2023: 1,531 → 1,357. 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 Beaver Dam’s own residents hold wherever they work.
18% of working residents work in Hartford
Where Beaver Dam clocks in
18% of workers
14% 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.
Where in the region Beaver Dam works
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 Beaver Dam, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Kentucky.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,281 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). 5.8% of Beaver Dam households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Beaver Dam’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,355 U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800, Beaver Dam comes 3,745th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,743 | South Greeley WY | 4,631 | $57K | 24.9% | 7.2% | 3% | C− |
| 3,744 | Bunnell FL | 4,298 | $55K | 19.8% | 4.8% | 10% | D |
| 3,745 | Beaver Dam KY | 3,537 | $54K | 11.2% | 12.5% | 9% | D |
| 3,746 | Orwell Township OH | 3,126 | $46K | 23.2% | 4.8% | 17% | D |
| 3,747 | Greene Township PA | 3,626 | $64K | 17.0% | 7.0% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Beaver Dam, 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 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 Beaver Dam: questions
What is the median household income in Beaver Dam?
$53,944 (±$6,079) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Beaver Dam?
11.2%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Beaver Dam?
32 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Beaver Dam work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hartford (18%, 4 mi), Owensboro (14%, 28 mi), Morgantown (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Beaver Dam walkable?
Beaver Dam is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Beaver Dam without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Beaver Dam, from the people who make the trip.
More of Beaver Dam
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.