Brooks has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Hardly any work in Brooks itself; outside it, Louisville draws the most (25%, 9 miles). Brooks has 233 jobs, and 1,005 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Brooks are B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Brooks apart on work
Brooks and Louisville trade workers both ways
Louisville is the top workplace for Brooks residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Brooks come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Brooks is a place people come home to
There are 233 jobs based in Brooks, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Brooks has about 1,300 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Brooks than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Brooks fell from 318 in 2013 to 233 in 2023, −27%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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.
Brooks’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Brooks is better than 61% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Brooks’ grade up (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($66,056, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (2.2%) is left out: Brooks’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Brooks could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where the trip to work from Brooks ends
Where Brooks clocks in
13% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Brooks
On a workday 999 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 227 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Brooks on a workday afternoon, 37% 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.
In Brooks, 67% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brooks, 2013 → 2023: 318 → 233. 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 Brooks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Brooks spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brooks workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 632 commuters (the 17% 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.
The distance from Brooks to work
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.
Getting around Brooks: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brooks is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 761 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). 5.5% of Brooks households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brooks’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Brooks is 1,704th of 5,793 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Pewee Valley KY | 1,668 | $157K | 3.0% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Windy Hills KY | 2,476 | $131K | 5.1% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,702 | Genola UT | 1,660 | $127K | 10.3% | 0.2% | 4% | B |
| 1,703 | Star Valley Ranch WY | 2,074 | $96K | 2.0% | 1.3% | 5% | B |
| 1,704 | Brooks KY | 2,069 | $66K | 9.6% | 2.2% | 1% | B |
| 1,705 | Schoolcraft MI | 1,439 | $75K | 8.8% | 1.8% | 3% | B |
| 1,706 | Meggett SC | 1,484 | $98K | 11.0% | 2.0% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Brooks, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Work in the towns next to Brooks
The biggest share goes to Hillview (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Brooks’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Brooks: questions
What is the median household income in Brooks?
$66,056 (±$8,168) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brooks?
9.6%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brooks?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brooks work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Louisville (25%, 9 mi), Shepherdsville (13%, 6 mi), Hillview (5%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brooks walkable?
Brooks is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brooks 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 Brooks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brooks
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.