Photo: Nyttend · Public domainElizabethtown has 2.1 jobs for every working resident: 22,788 people commute in to work
27,434 jobs are based in Elizabethtown; 13,319 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Elizabethtown is better than 30% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (B). About one in three stay in Elizabethtown for work; outside it, Louisville is the main destination (8%, 36 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown is where the jobs are
Elizabethtown has 27,434 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 50,000 people are in town, 40% more than the 35,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Elizabethtown’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Elizabethtown is Louisville, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (1,024) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Elizabethtown draws workers from far and wide
The 27,434 jobs in Elizabethtown are filled from a wide area. Elizabethtown’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 18%; the other 65% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
How Elizabethtown earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Elizabethtown’s grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elizabethtown could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Elizabethtown fills up on a workday
On a workday 8,673 residents head out to work and 4,646 work right here.
About 50,000 people are in Elizabethtown on a workday afternoon, 40% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where in the region Elizabethtown works
About 17% 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.
Who travels to work in Elizabethtown, and from where
Where Elizabethtown clocks in
Lines 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.
29% of the jobs in Elizabethtown make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elizabethtown, 2014 → 2024: 25,818 → 27,434. 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 Elizabethtown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Elizabethtown: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elizabethtown workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,792 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.
Driving is how Elizabethtown gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 14,756 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). 12.6% of Elizabethtown households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Elizabethtown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Elizabethtown is 1,046th of 1,219 U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 392 | Jeffersontown KY | 29,193 | $82K | 6.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 553 | Independence KY | 30,198 | $102K | 8.8% | 4.3% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 629 | Florence KY | 34,018 | $71K | 9.5% | 3.1% | 17% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,044 | Sierra Vista AZ | 44,907 | $70K | 12.0% | 4.8% | 41% | C |
| 1,045 | Ferry Pass FL | 30,053 | $62K | 14.4% | 6.7% | 15% | C |
| 1,046 | Elizabethtown KY | 35,448 | $61K | 17.0% | 5.2% | 35% | C |
| 1,047 | Enterprise AL | 31,211 | $73K | 16.5% | 5.4% | 30% | C |
| 1,048 | Opelika AL | 35,765 | $65K | 16.0% | 5.6% | 35% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Elizabethtown, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Next door to Elizabethtown
The biggest share goes to Radcliff (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Elizabethtown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabethtown | – | C | B | 20 min | $60,760 |
| Cecilia | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Radcliff | 3% | C− | B− | 25 min | $58,559 |
Same-state neighbors only. Cecilia: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Elizabethtown’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 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 Elizabethtown: questions
What is the median household income in Elizabethtown?
$60,760 (±$3,793) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elizabethtown?
17.0%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elizabethtown?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elizabethtown work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Louisville (8%, 36 mi), Radcliff (3%, 9 mi), Lexington (3%, 81 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Elizabethtown walkable?
Elizabethtown is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elizabethtown without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elizabethtown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elizabethtown
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.