Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Making a living in Burgin
Burgin grades B for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 3% work in Burgin itself; outside it, Lexington draws the most (21%, 26 miles). Working residents average 29 minutes each way, next to 24 for Kentucky and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Burgin
Burgin’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Burgin is Lexington, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (84) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Burgin workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 24 across Kentucky. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 38 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; with 401 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Burgin earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Burgin is better than 59% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Burgin’s grade. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.2%) is left out: Burgin’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, Burgin could be anywhere from C to A.
The distance from Burgin to work
About 15% 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.
About 29 minutes each way for Burgin’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Burgin workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 404 commuters (the 9% 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 daily flow of workers through Burgin
On a workday 387 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 239 people come in from elsewhere.
About 880 people are in Burgin on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.63 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Out of Burgin to work: where people go
Where Burgin clocks in
16% of workers
11% 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.
76% of the jobs in Burgin pay over $3,333 a month
253 jobs are based in Burgin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Burgin, 2013 → 2023: 316 → 253. 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 Burgin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Burgin, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Burgin is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 3.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 444 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). 2.5% of Burgin households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Burgin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Burgin is 769th among 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Heritage Creek KY | 1,244 | $100K | 2.4% | 1.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Verona KY | 1,394 | $145K | 3.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 767 | Tymochtee Township OH | 1,072 | $84K | 5.6% | 0.0% | <1% | B |
| 768 | Chilton WI | 1,008 | $72K | 7.3% | 0.7% | 2% | B |
| 769 | Burgin KY | 1,027 | $78K | 8.6% | 0.2% | 3% | B |
| 770 | Washington Township OH | 1,086 | $65K | 1.4% | 2.6% | 1% | B |
| 771 | Glade Spring VA | 1,366 | $81K | 5.4% | 1.5% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Burgin, 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 Burgin: questions
What is the median household income in Burgin?
$77,585 (±$10,641) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Burgin?
8.6%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Burgin?
29 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Burgin work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (21%, 26 mi), Harrodsburg (16%, 5 mi), Danville (11%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Burgin walkable?
Burgin is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Burgin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Burgin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Burgin
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.