Most of Elsmere commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
2,023 jobs are based in Elsmere, against 4,487 working residents. For jobs and income Elsmere is better than 41% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (C+). Only 2% work in Elsmere itself; outside it, Florence draws the most (12%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Elsmere and work: the main findings
Elsmere makes and builds things
47% of the jobs based in Elsmere are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Elsmere residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 16%. The jobs ↓
Most Elsmere residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
The jobs in Elsmere pay better than its residents’ jobs
75% of the jobs based in Elsmere pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 59% of the jobs Elsmere residents hold. 96% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Elsmere. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Elsmere are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Elsmere
Job access by car holds Elsmere’s grade up (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elsmere could be anywhere from C− to B+.
47% of the jobs in Elsmere make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elsmere, 2013 → 2023: 2,004 → 2,023. 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 Elsmere’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Elsmere, by distance
About 16% 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.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Kentucky
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elsmere workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,348 commuters (the 10% 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.
Elsmere by day and by night
On a workday 4,406 residents head out to work, 81 work right here, and 1,942 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Elsmere on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer 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.
The towns that employ Elsmere’s residents
Where Elsmere clocks in
12% of workers
8% 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.
In Elsmere, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.1% 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 4,853 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 30% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 64% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.4% of Elsmere households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elsmere’s commuters take a bus or train.
Elsmere is 1,877th of 2,790 U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,900 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Francisville KY | 10,565 | $159K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 172 | Oakbrook KY | 10,211 | $95K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,875 | Union Township OH | 12,780 | $81K | 11.3% | 5.2% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,876 | Wickenburg AZ | 8,305 | $68K | 12.9% | 0.4% | 32% | C+ |
| 1,877 | Elsmere KY | 9,521 | $61K | 15.6% | 5.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,878 | Sturgeon Bay WI | 9,917 | $60K | 9.2% | 3.2% | 52% | C+ |
| 1,879 | Gulf Hills MS | 8,451 | $73K | 10.9% | 6.2% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,790 | 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 Elsmere, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Work in the towns next to Elsmere
The biggest share goes to Erlanger (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Elsmere workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elsmere | – | C+ | C+ | 18 min | $60,503 |
| Erlanger | 5% | B | B | 21 min | $75,840 |
| Independence | 2% | B+ | C | 27 min | $102,361 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Elsmere’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 Elsmere: questions
What is the median household income in Elsmere?
$60,503 (±$9,965) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elsmere?
15.6%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elsmere?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elsmere work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Florence (12%, 2 mi), Cincinnati (8%, 11 mi), Erlanger (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elsmere walkable?
Elsmere is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elsmere without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elsmere, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elsmere
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.