Adair County Courthouse · Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Columbia are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 18.3%; Kentucky has 16.1%. Columbia grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four stay in Columbia for work; outside it, Russell Springs is the main destination (5%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Columbia, in brief
Columbia is where the jobs are
Columbia has 3,039 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Columbia are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Columbia workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Columbia’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 17% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Why Columbia gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Columbia is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #104 of 142 in Kentucky. Unemployment holds Columbia’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($47,299, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Columbia could be anywhere from D to B−.
How a workday changes Columbia
On a workday 1,107 residents head out to work, 460 work right here, and 2,579 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,200 people are in Columbia on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
From Columbia, about 15 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Columbia workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,660 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.
Inside Columbia’s 3,039 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Columbia, 2013 → 2023: 3,257 → 3,039. 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 Columbia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Columbia live
Where Columbia clocks in
5% 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 Columbia to work
About 27% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Columbia
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Columbia is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #19 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Columbia 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 1,994 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). 12.4% of Columbia households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Columbia’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Columbia ranks: 3,146th of 3,798 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 271 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 286 | Prospect KY | 4,705 | $163K | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,144 | Stokes Township OH | 4,585 | $55K | 14.6% | 5.7% | 7% | C− |
| 3,145 | Hephzibah GA | 3,815 | $65K | 20.9% | 6.8% | 3% | C− |
| 3,146 | Columbia KY | 4,680 | $47K | 18.3% | 4.4% | 29% | C− |
| 3,147 | Dandridge TN | 3,947 | $54K | 15.1% | 9.6% | 10% | C− |
| 3,148 | Jan Phyl Village FL | 5,708 | $54K | 27.0% | 6.7% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,798 | 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 Columbia, 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 Columbia: questions
What is the median household income in Columbia?
$47,299 (±$10,981) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Columbia?
18.3%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Columbia?
15 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Columbia work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Russell Springs (5%, 13 mi), Campbellsville (5%, 17 mi), Lexington (4%, 80 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Columbia walkable?
Columbia is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Columbia without a car?
0% 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 Columbia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Columbia
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.