Photo: Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 4.0At 9.4%, unemployment in Central City is higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
1% of workers have no commute at all, where Kentucky as a whole has 10%. The two grades for Central City are D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Measured by household income, Central City is behind 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Central City
Central City trades workers with the towns around it
Central City has about as many jobs (1,854) as working residents (1,860), but they are mostly different people: 1,589 residents leave for work each day while 1,583 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in Central City are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Central City workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
The figures behind Central City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Central City is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #131 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Central City’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Central City could be anywhere from D− to C−.
In and out of Central City on a workday
On a workday 1,589 residents head out to work, 271 work right here, and 1,583 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 (1.00 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Central City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Central City workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,184 commuters (the 1% 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.
11% of working residents work in Greenville
Where Central City clocks in
8% 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 Central City’s employers do
1,854 jobs are based in Central City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Central City, 2013 → 2023: 2,060 → 1,854. 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 Central City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Central City
About 23% 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.
For most of Central City, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Central City is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #84 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Central City 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 2,206 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). 8.2% of Central City households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Central City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Central City compares with U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 273 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 288 | Prospect KY | 4,705 | $163K | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,219 | Shenandoah PA | 4,122 | $45K | 27.7% | 9.4% | 8% | D |
| 3,220 | Houlton ME | 6,056 | $61K | 18.1% | 11.5% | 56% | D |
| 3,221 | Central City KY | 5,793 | $51K | 25.6% | 9.4% | 15% | D |
| 3,222 | Hazard KY | 4,794 | $51K | 31.5% | 7.1% | 45% | D |
| 3,223 | La Follette TN | 7,176 | $38K | 28.2% | 7.5% | 14% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,375 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Central 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 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 Central City: questions
What is the median household income in Central City?
$50,885 (±$7,260) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Central City?
25.6%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Central City?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Central City work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (11%, 6 mi), Owensboro (8%, 32 mi), Madisonville (7%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Central City walkable?
Central City is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Central City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Central City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Central City
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.