Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainCorbin draws 6,447 commuters a day, with 2.6 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Corbin D; getting around on foot earns it B−. There are 7,171 jobs in Corbin, against 2,783 working residents. Household incomes here are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Corbin, in a few figures
Corbin draws workers from far and wide
The 7,171 jobs in Corbin are filled from a wide area. Corbin’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 10%; the other 80% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Corbin is where the jobs are
Corbin has 7,171 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 12,000 people are in town, 55% more than the 7,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Corbin
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Corbin is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #121 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Corbin’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (26.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Corbin could be anywhere from D to C.
The towns that send workers to Corbin
Where Corbin clocks in
12% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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 Corbin
On a workday 2,059 residents head out to work and 724 work right here.
About 12,000 people are in Corbin on a workday afternoon, 55% more 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.
What Corbin’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Corbin, 2013 → 2023: 5,601 → 7,171. 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 Corbin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Corbin takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Corbin workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,748 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where in the region Corbin works
About 21% 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.
In Corbin, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Corbin is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #74 of 142 in Kentucky. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Kentucky.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,968 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). 11.1% of Corbin households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Corbin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Corbin sits among U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,700
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Francisville KY | 10,565 | $159K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 181 | Oakbrook KY | 10,211 | $95K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,839 | Mount Carmel IL | 6,723 | $47K | 20.3% | 4.5% | 33% | D |
| 2,840 | Sinton TX | 5,966 | $52K | 25.0% | 8.4% | 17% | D |
| 2,841 | Corbin KY | 7,911 | $51K | 26.0% | 7.2% | 26% | D |
| 2,842 | Crystal City TX | 5,871 | $36K | 38.2% | 3.1% | 28% | D |
| 2,843 | Fort Riley KS | 8,606 | $54K | 10.7% | 18.6% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,069 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Corbin, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Corbin and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to North Corbin (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Corbin workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corbin | – | D | B− | 24 min | $51,065 |
| North Corbin | 2% | D | C+ | 25 min | $51,447 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Corbin’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 Corbin: questions
What is the median household income in Corbin?
$51,065 (±$8,461) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Corbin?
26.0%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Corbin?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Corbin work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are London (12%, 13 mi), Williamsburg (6%, 14 mi), Barbourville (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Corbin walkable?
Corbin is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Corbin without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Corbin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Corbin
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.