Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes put Cave City near the very bottom of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 29.9% of residents, against 16.1% across Kentucky. Measured by household income, Cave City is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The two grades for Cave City are D for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Cave City apart on work
The better-paid jobs are outside Cave City
53% of Cave City residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 26% of the jobs based in Cave City pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Cave City pay little
31% of the jobs based in Cave City pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 32% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Cave City are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 882 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Cave City
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cave City is better than 5% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Cave City’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($27,589, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cave City could be anywhere from D− to C.
What the 820 jobs in Cave City are
820 jobs are based in Cave City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cave City, 2014 → 2024: 692 → 820. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cave City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Cave City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cave City workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,020 commuters (the 5% 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.
How a workday changes Cave City
On a workday 819 residents head out to work, 63 work right here, and 757 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 (0.93 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Glasgow
Where Cave City clocks in
19% of workers
12% 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 distance from Cave City to work
About 22% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Cave City is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cave City is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,076 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). 14.4% of Cave City households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cave City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Cave City compares with U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Lakeside Park KY | 2,847 | $129K | 1.5% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| 16 | Indian Hills KY | 2,939 | $192K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Windy Hills KY | 2,476 | $131K | 5.1% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,633 | Fairplains NC | 1,803 | $39K | 36.3% | 12.3% | 1% | D |
| 4,634 | Las Lomas TX | 2,154 | $25K | 37.0% | 14.0% | 1% | D |
| 4,635 | Cave City KY | 2,398 | $28K | 29.9% | 7.1% | 7% | D |
| 4,636 | Kinder LA | 2,091 | $42K | 33.7% | 10.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,637 | Pembroke Township IL | 1,856 | $32K | 18.0% | 10.8% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Cave City, 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 2024, 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 Cave City: questions
What is the median household income in Cave City?
$27,589 (±$11,686) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cave City?
29.9%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cave City?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cave City work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Glasgow (19%, 10 mi), Bowling Green (12%, 28 mi), Horse Cave (12%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Cave City walkable?
Cave City is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cave City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cave City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cave City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.