Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Harlan ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Poverty touches 33.1% of residents, against 16.1% across Kentucky. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. For jobs and income Harlan is better than 2% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Harlan in brief
Fewer than half of Harlan workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Harlan’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 16% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Harlan than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Harlan fell from 1,088 in 2013 to 806 in 2023, −26%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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 565 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Harlan earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Harlan’s grade up (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($32,408, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (12.0%) is left out: Harlan’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Harlan stays D−.
Inside Harlan’s 806 jobs
806 jobs are based in Harlan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harlan, 2013 → 2023: 1,088 → 806. 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 Harlan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Harlan
On a workday 471 residents head out to work, 94 work right here, and 712 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Harlan on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
5% of working residents work in Lexington
Where Harlan clocks in
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.
The daily trip from Harlan: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harlan workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 644 commuters (the 5% 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.
How many miles Harlan commutes
About 29% 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.
Few in Harlan walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 676 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). 14.9% of Harlan households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harlan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Harlan and other U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Pewee Valley KY | 1,668 | $157K | 3.0% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,484 | Linden AL | 1,801 | $39K | 23.1% | 15.1% | 10% | D− |
| 5,485 | Lineville AL | 2,473 | $38K | 32.4% | 4.7% | 11% | D− |
| 5,486 | Harlan KY | 1,822 | $32K | 33.1% | 12.0% | 17% | D− |
| 5,487 | Burkesville KY | 1,389 | $34K | 28.9% | 1.4% | 33% | D− |
| 5,488 | Mound Bayou MS | 1,381 | $24K | 46.4% | 4.4% | 10% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Harlan, 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 Harlan: questions
What is the median household income in Harlan?
$32,408 (±$4,547) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harlan?
33.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harlan?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harlan work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (5%, 104 mi), London (4%, 46 mi), Hazard (3%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harlan walkable?
Harlan is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harlan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harlan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harlan
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.