Photo: Warren LeMay · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Fort Thomas commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Fort Thomas grades A for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 4,498 jobs are based in Fort Thomas; 8,567 of its residents have a job. Measured by household income, Fort Thomas is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Fort Thomas in brief
Many Fort Thomas workers cross into Ohio
41% of Fort Thomas workers work outside Kentucky, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Cincinnati (21%) and Blue Ash (2%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Most Fort Thomas residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Home offices are common in Fort Thomas
18% of Fort Thomas workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Fort Thomas
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Thomas is better than 87% of U.S. towns, #15 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Thomas could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
21% of working residents work in Cincinnati
Where Fort Thomas clocks in
21% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Fort Thomas
About 15% 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.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Fort Thomas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Thomas workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,140 commuters (the 18% 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.
Fort Thomas on a workday afternoon
On a workday 7,895 residents head out to work, 672 work right here, and 3,826 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Fort Thomas on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
Most jobs in Fort Thomas are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Thomas, 2013 → 2023: 3,827 → 4,498. 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 Fort Thomas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Fort Thomas
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Thomas is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #28 of 142 in Kentucky. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% 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 8,695 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 95% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 31% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 3.2% of Fort Thomas households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fort Thomas’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Fort Thomas is 441st of 1,999 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 296 | Burlington KY | 18,008 | $109K | 5.5% | 2.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 439 | Crowley TX | 20,954 | $95K | 5.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A |
| 440 | Woolwich Township NJ | 14,858 | $158K | 7.5% | 3.8% | 5% | A |
| 441 | Fort Thomas KY | 17,142 | $104K | 6.1% | 3.5% | 8% | A |
| 442 | Youngsville LA | 19,980 | $106K | 9.1% | 1.2% | 8% | A |
| 443 | Chester NY | 12,877 | $140K | 8.1% | 2.0% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 716 | Mount Washington KY | 18,989 | $96K | 5.3% | 4.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 722 | St. Matthews KY | 17,868 | $82K | 7.2% | 3.8% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Fort Thomas, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Fort Thomas and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Newport (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Thomas workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Thomas | – | A | A− | 21 min | $104,350 |
| Newport | 5% | C | A+ | 20 min | $60,853 |
| Dayton | under 2% | B− | A | 22 min | $65,992 |
| Southgate | under 2% | B− | B+ | 20 min | $54,421 |
| Highland Heights | 2% | B− | A+ | 20 min | $53,275 |
| Bellevue | under 2% | B+ | A | 19 min | $71,166 |
| Woodlawn | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Woodlawn: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Thomas’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 Fort Thomas: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Thomas?
$104,350 (±$9,904) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Thomas?
6.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Thomas?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Thomas work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cincinnati (21%, 5 mi), Newport (5%, 2 mi), Covington (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Thomas walkable?
Fort Thomas is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Thomas without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 31% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Thomas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Thomas
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.