Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Glasgow trail those of 94% of U.S. towns
About two in five work in Glasgow itself; outside it, Bowling Green draws the most (15%, 28 miles). 21.9% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 16.1% for Kentucky as a whole. The two grades for Glasgow are C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Glasgow stands out on work
Glasgow is where the jobs are
Glasgow has 12,123 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 22,000 people are in town, 41% more than the 15,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Glasgow draws workers from far and wide
The 12,123 jobs in Glasgow are filled from a wide area. Glasgow’s own residents hold 19% and the ten next-biggest home towns 9%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Glasgow’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Glasgow is Bowling Green, 28 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (847) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
The four measures behind Glasgow’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Glasgow is better than 21% of U.S. towns, #98 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Glasgow’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($43,074, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Glasgow could be anywhere from D to C+.
The daily commute in and out of Glasgow
On a workday 3,547 residents head out to work, 2,272 work right here, and 9,851 people come in from elsewhere.
About 22,000 people are in Glasgow on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
2.1 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.
The daily trip into Glasgow
Where Glasgow clocks in
15% 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.
Half of Glasgow commutes less than 18 miles
About 23% 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.
What Glasgow’s employers do
12,123 jobs are based in Glasgow.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glasgow, 2013 → 2023: 13,009 → 12,123. 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 Glasgow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Kentucky
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glasgow workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,031 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.
Getting around Glasgow: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Glasgow is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #83 of 142 in Kentucky. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 5,426 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). 14.5% of Glasgow households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Glasgow’s commuters take a bus or train.
Glasgow next to U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000: 1,845th of 2,109 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 328 | Burlington KY | 18,008 | $109K | 5.5% | 2.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 485 | Fort Thomas KY | 17,142 | $104K | 6.1% | 3.5% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 761 | Mount Washington KY | 18,989 | $96K | 5.3% | 4.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,843 | Bayou Blue LA | 12,218 | $64K | 23.9% | 5.3% | 2% | C− |
| 1,844 | Marshall MO | 13,766 | $54K | 17.1% | 4.1% | 43% | C− |
| 1,845 | Glasgow KY | 15,302 | $43K | 21.9% | 4.3% | 39% | C− |
| 1,846 | Mount Pleasant MI | 20,925 | $45K | 31.4% | 7.6% | 32% | C− |
| 1,847 | Lemon Hill CA | 15,312 | $49K | 32.0% | 8.7% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | 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 Glasgow, 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 Glasgow: questions
What is the median household income in Glasgow?
$43,074 (±$6,561) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glasgow?
21.9%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glasgow?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Glasgow work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bowling Green (15%, 28 mi), Horse Cave (5%, 11 mi), Louisville (2%, 83 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Glasgow walkable?
Glasgow is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glasgow without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Glasgow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glasgow
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.