Photo: FloNight (Sydney Poore) and Russell Poore · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Greenup earn less than those in 96% of U.S. towns
15.9% of residents live below the poverty line; Kentucky has 16.1%. For jobs and income Greenup is better than 15% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers, next to 10% for Kentucky as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Greenup in brief
Greenup is where the jobs are
Greenup has 793 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Greenup workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 24 across Kentucky. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Greenup workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; with 456 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Greenup
Job access by car holds Greenup’s grade up (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($40,313, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (6.2%) is left out: Greenup’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, Greenup could be anywhere from D to C.
In and out of Greenup on a workday
On a workday 420 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 757 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Greenup on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
About 30 minutes to work from Greenup
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Greenup workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 279 commuters (the 0% 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 daily trip into Greenup
Where Greenup clocks in
15% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
Most jobs in Greenup are in services
793 jobs are based in Greenup.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Greenup, 2013 → 2023: 616 → 793. 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 Greenup’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Greenup commutes
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.
In Greenup, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 279 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). 12.9% of Greenup households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Greenup’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Greenup comes 2,321st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Heritage Creek KY | 1,244 | $100K | 2.4% | 1.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Verona KY | 1,394 | $145K | 3.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,319 | Lakefield Township MI | 1,095 | $56K | 9.5% | 3.7% | 9% | D |
| 2,320 | Biola CA | 1,070 | $43K | 38.0% | 4.2% | 2% | D |
| 2,321 | Greenup KY | 1,069 | $40K | 15.9% | 6.2% | 8% | D |
| 2,322 | Orange Grove TX | 1,178 | $45K | 13.8% | 1.7% | 4% | D |
| 2,323 | Clarksville VA | 1,303 | $64K | 15.4% | 6.6% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Greenup, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Greenup and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Wurtland (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Greenup workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenup | – | D | A | 30 min | $40,313 |
| Wurtland | 3% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Wurtland: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Greenup’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 Greenup: questions
What is the median household income in Greenup?
$40,313 (±$13,188) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Greenup?
15.9%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Greenup?
30 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Greenup work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ashland (15%, 12 mi), Portsmouth (4%, 15 mi), Huntington (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Greenup walkable?
Greenup is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Greenup without a car?
0% 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 Greenup, from the people who make the trip.
More of Greenup
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.