Photo: Tennessee Valley Authority · Public domainBenton’s household incomes are lower than in 63% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Benton for work; outside it, Paducah is the main destination (14%, 22 miles). 11.4% of residents are in poverty, where Kentucky as a whole has 16.1%. Jobs and income earn Benton C+; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Benton: the figures worth knowing
Income, poverty and work: Benton’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Benton is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #69 of 142 in Kentucky. Unemployment holds Benton’s grade up (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($66,827, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Benton could be anywhere from D to A−.
Benton fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,602 residents head out to work, 303 work right here, and 2,622 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Benton on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.5 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where Benton’s workforce comes from
Where Benton clocks in
14% of workers
7% of workers
7% 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.
What the 2,925 jobs in Benton are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Benton, 2013 → 2023: 2,462 → 2,925. 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 Benton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Benton, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benton workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,047 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Benton
About 17% 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 Benton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Benton is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #76 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Benton 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 2,363 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). 7.1% of Benton households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Benton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Benton next to U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400: 2,394th of 3,867 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 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 279 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 294 | Prospect KY | 4,705 | $163K | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,392 | Owosso Township MI | 4,786 | $57K | 13.6% | 3.2% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,393 | West Penn Township PA | 4,616 | $72K | 5.8% | 8.8% | 11% | C+ |
| 2,394 | Benton KY | 4,718 | $67K | 11.4% | 4.0% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,395 | Plainwell MI | 3,722 | $67K | 10.4% | 6.7% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,396 | Brandon VT | 4,173 | $64K | 14.2% | 0.8% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | 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 Benton, 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 Benton: questions
What is the median household income in Benton?
$66,827 (±$18,749) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benton?
11.4%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benton?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benton work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paducah (14%, 22 mi), Murray (7%, 16 mi), Calvert City (7%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Benton walkable?
Benton is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Benton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Benton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benton
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.