Photo: Nyttend · Public domainA job hub: Hyden has 15.3 jobs per working resident, and 1,026 people come in to work
There are 1,040 jobs in Hyden, against 68 working residents. About one in five work in Hyden; the top destination outside it is Hazard (16%, 12 miles). 18% of workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hyden on a workday afternoon
On a workday 54 residents head out to work and 14 work right here.
About 1,300 people are in Hyden on a workday afternoon, 348% 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.
The daily trip into Hyden
Where Hyden clocks in
16% 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.
Hyden is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hyden, 2013 → 2023: 965 → 1,040. 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 Hyden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Hyden: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hyden workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 91 commuters (the 18% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Hyden
About 30% 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 Hyden: questions
What is the median household income in Hyden?
$56,458 (±$34,583) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hyden?
22.2%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hyden?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hyden work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hazard (16%, 12 mi), Lexington (7%, 85 mi), London (3%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Hyden without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hyden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hyden
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.