Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0A job hub: Brandenburg has 2.1 jobs per working resident, and 2,367 people come in to work
Jobs and income earn Brandenburg C; getting around on foot earns it A. Employers in Brandenburg report 2,609 jobs; 1,214 of its residents have a job. Measured by household income, Brandenburg is behind 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Brandenburg, in brief
Brandenburg is where the jobs are
Brandenburg has 2,609 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,400 people are in town, 46% more than the 3,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Brandenburg’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Brandenburg is Louisville, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (168) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Brandenburg workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 24 across Kentucky. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. 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.
Brandenburg’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brandenburg is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #87 of 142 in Kentucky. Unemployment holds Brandenburg’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brandenburg could be anywhere from D to B−.
In and out of Brandenburg on a workday
On a workday 972 residents head out to work and 242 work right here.
About 4,400 people are in Brandenburg on a workday afternoon, 46% 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 it is to work from Brandenburg
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.
Each way, about 30 minutes from Brandenburg
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brandenburg workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,183 commuters (the 11% 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.
Where the people who work in Brandenburg live
Where Brandenburg 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.
Brandenburg is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brandenburg, 2013 → 2023: 2,592 → 2,609. 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 Brandenburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Brandenburg is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brandenburg is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #16 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Brandenburg 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 1,336 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). 11.8% of Brandenburg households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Brandenburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brandenburg next to U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100: 3,514th of 4,771 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 2% | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,512 | Albia IA | 3,599 | $70K | 14.7% | 5.1% | 26% | C |
| 3,513 | Piru CA | 2,185 | $89K | 15.8% | 9.0% | 4% | C |
| 3,514 | Brandenburg KY | 3,003 | $50K | 24.8% | 3.6% | 20% | C |
| 3,515 | Chaffee MO | 3,017 | $44K | 9.2% | 5.2% | 9% | C |
| 3,516 | Lincoln Township KS | 2,730 | $56K | 9.0% | 5.3% | 17% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | 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 Brandenburg, 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 Brandenburg: questions
What is the median household income in Brandenburg?
$49,844 (±$13,246) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brandenburg?
24.8%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brandenburg?
30 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brandenburg work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Louisville (14%, 31 mi), Elizabethtown (6%, 26 mi), Lexington (3%, 94 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brandenburg walkable?
Brandenburg is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brandenburg 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 Brandenburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brandenburg
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.