Edwards Hall · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainElkton has lower household incomes than 89% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Elkton for work; outside it, Hopkinsville is the main destination (17%, 17 miles). 18.2% of residents live below the poverty line; Kentucky has 16.1%. For jobs and income Elkton is better than 11% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Elkton and work: the main findings
Elkton is where the jobs are
Elkton has 1,149 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Elkton has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Elkton went from 803 in 2013 to 1,149 in 2023, +43%. 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; with 668 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Elkton’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds Elkton’s grade up (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($48,777, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.5%) is left out: Elkton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Elkton could be anywhere from D to C.
Who leaves Elkton for work, and who comes in
On a workday 526 residents head out to work, 142 work right here, and 1,007 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Elkton on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Inside Elkton’s 1,149 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elkton, 2013 → 2023: 803 → 1,149. 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 Elkton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Elkton’s workforce comes from
Where Elkton clocks in
17% of workers
5% of workers
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 daily trip from Elkton: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elkton workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 704 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.
The distance from Elkton to work
About 24% 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.
Few in Elkton walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 744 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). 3.4% of Elkton households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elkton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200, Elkton ranks 4,255th of 4,995 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 3% | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,253 | Ninety Six SC | 2,089 | $55K | 22.6% | 7.2% | 6% | D |
| 4,254 | Jefferson Township IN | 1,933 | $64K | 16.9% | 4.0% | 7% | D |
| 4,255 | Elkton KY | 2,387 | $49K | 18.2% | 0.5% | 21% | D |
| 4,256 | Pulaski NY | 2,269 | $50K | 20.5% | 5.0% | 23% | D |
| 4,257 | Honey Grove TX | 1,806 | $47K | 13.1% | 2.8% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Elkton, 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 Elkton: questions
What is the median household income in Elkton?
$48,777 (±$7,597) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elkton?
18.2%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elkton?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elkton work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hopkinsville (17%, 17 mi), Clarksville (5%, 20 mi), Russellville (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elkton walkable?
Elkton is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elkton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elkton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elkton
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.