Photo: Nyttend · Public domainA job hub: Hazard has 4.6 jobs per working resident, and 7,245 people come in to work
8,024 jobs are based in Hazard; 1,736 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Hazard is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (A−). Household incomes here are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hazard at work: what stands out
Hazard fills up on a workday
Hazard has 8,024 jobs, 4.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 11,000 people are in town, more than double the 4,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Hazard draws workers from far and wide
The 8,024 jobs in Hazard are filled from a wide area. Hazard’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 6%; the other 84% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Hazard are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. 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 Hazard’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Hazard’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (31.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hazard could be anywhere from D− to B−.
How a workday changes Hazard
On a workday 957 residents head out to work and 779 work right here.
About 11,000 people are in Hazard on a workday afternoon, 131% more 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.
Who travels to work in Hazard, and from where
Where Hazard clocks in
1% 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.
About 14 minutes to work from Hazard
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hazard workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,475 commuters (the 11% 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.
Most jobs in Hazard are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hazard, 2013 → 2023: 8,036 → 8,024. 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 Hazard’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Hazard
About 25% 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.
Hazard is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,660 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). 11.7% of Hazard households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hazard’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Hazard sits among U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,500
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 280 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 295 | Prospect KY | 4,705 | $163K | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,561 | Houlton ME | 6,056 | $61K | 18.1% | 11.5% | 56% | D |
| 3,562 | Central City KY | 5,793 | $51K | 25.6% | 9.4% | 15% | D |
| 3,563 | Hazard KY | 4,794 | $51K | 31.5% | 7.1% | 45% | D |
| 3,564 | Jackson LA | 3,904 | $38K | 32.0% | 13.1% | 3% | D |
| 3,565 | Eastland TX | 3,737 | $52K | 24.9% | 6.3% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,753 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Hazard, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
How Hazard compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hazard workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazard | – | D | A− | 14 min | $51,016 |
| Combs | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
| Diablock | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Combs and Diablock: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hazard’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 Hazard: questions
What is the median household income in Hazard?
$51,016 (±$25,536) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hazard?
31.5%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hazard?
14 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hazard work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (4%, 88 mi), Hyden (1%, 12 mi), Whitesburg (1%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hazard walkable?
Hazard is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hazard without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hazard, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hazard
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.