Muhlenberg County Courthouse · Photo: Acdixon · CC0Greenville’s household incomes are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 12% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #118 of 142 in Kentucky.
Walkability C: more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns · #114 of 142 in Kentucky.
Working residents average 25 minutes each way (Kentucky 24, U.S. 26). About one in five work in Greenville; the top destination outside it is Owensboro (8%, 38 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Greenville
Greenville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Greenville is Owensboro, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (128) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Greenville is where the jobs are
Greenville has 2,565 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Greenville workers work from home
Only 4% 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.
What’s behind Greenville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Greenville is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #118 of 142 in Kentucky. Unemployment holds Greenville’s grade up (5.3%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($46,054, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Greenville could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Half of Greenville commutes less than 22 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 21% 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.
Greenville fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,256 residents head out to work, 341 work right here, and 2,224 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,300 people are in Greenville on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.6 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 25 minutes each way, about the KY average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Greenville workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,546 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Kentucky: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Where Greenville’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Greenville clocks in
8% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 2,565 jobs in Greenville are
2,565 jobs are based in Greenville. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Greenville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Greenville, 2013 → 2023: 3,032 → 2,565. 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.
Most trips from Greenville start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Greenville is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns, #114 of 142 in Kentucky. 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 1,608 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). 6.2% of Greenville households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Greenville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Greenville is 3,705th of 4,136 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,900 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Greenville, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 298 | Prospect KY | 4,705 | $163K | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 399 | Hurstbourne KY | 4,787 | $116K | 5.5% | 3.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,703 | Johnston City IL | 3,313 | $42K | 17.9% | 8.3% | 8% | D |
| 3,704 | Hanover IN | 3,866 | $54K | 13.1% | 9.0% | 11% | D |
| 3,705 | Greenville KY | 4,350 | $46K | 21.3% | 5.3% | 21% | D |
| 3,706 | Edwardsville PA | 4,927 | $45K | 26.1% | 12.5% | 2% | D |
| 3,707 | Madisonville TN | 5,428 | $40K | 18.1% | 6.8% | 15% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,136 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
Greenville and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Powderly (3%). Darker towns draw more of Greenville’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Greenville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenville | – | D | C | 25 min | $46,054 |
| Powderly | 3% | — | — | 17 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Powderly: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Greenville: questions
What is the median household income in Greenville?
$46,054 (±$15,185) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Greenville?
21.3%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Greenville?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Greenville work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Owensboro (8%, 38 mi), Madisonville (7%, 20 mi), Central City (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Greenville walkable?
Greenville is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Greenville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Greenville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Greenville
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.