Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Hazel works elsewhere
At 24 minutes each way, commutes from Hazel run about the Kentucky average. Employers in Hazel report 37 jobs, against 150 working residents. Hardly any work in Hazel; the top destination outside it is Murray (32%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Hazel on a workday
On a workday 149 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 36 people come in from elsewhere.
About 300 people are in Hazel on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer 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.
Commuting out of Hazel: the destinations
Where Hazel clocks in
32% of workers
9% 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.
What Hazel’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hazel, 2013 → 2023: 37 → 37. 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 Hazel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Hazel spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hazel workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 112 commuters (the 6% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Hazel
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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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 Hazel: questions
What is the median household income in Hazel?
$40,536 (±$9,177) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hazel?
23.7%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hazel?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hazel work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Murray (32%, 8 mi), Mayfield (9%, 24 mi), Owensboro (3%, 109 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Hazel without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hazel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hazel
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.