Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Irvine trail those of 94% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Irvine; the top destination outside it is Lexington (21%, 36 miles). 19.4% of residents are in poverty, against 16.1% across Kentucky. Irvine grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Irvine apart on work
Irvine’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Irvine is Lexington, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (166) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in Irvine is services
90% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 0% are in factories, building or farms. 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 781 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Irvine
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Irvine is better than 10% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Irvine’s grade up (5.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($42,805, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Irvine could be anywhere from D− to C.
How far Irvine’s workers travel
About 22% 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.
In Irvine, services account for most jobs
1,041 jobs are based in Irvine.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Irvine, 2013 → 2023: 1,054 → 1,041. 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 Irvine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Irvine, and who commutes in
On a workday 694 residents head out to work, 87 work right here, and 954 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Irvine on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 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.
The towns that employ Irvine’s residents
Where Irvine clocks in
10% of workers
5% 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 28 minutes each way, longer than most of Kentucky
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Irvine workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 927 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.
Irvine is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Irvine is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 975 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). 8.3% of Irvine households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Irvine’s commuters take a bus or train.
Irvine next to U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100: 4,607th of 5,328 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Lakeside Park KY | 2,847 | $129K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 16 | Indian Hills KY | 2,939 | $192K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Pewee Valley KY | 1,668 | $157K | 3.0% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,605 | Strathmore CA | 2,675 | $43K | 32.6% | 9.9% | 3% | D |
| 4,606 | Lamar AR | 1,776 | $51K | 22.7% | 1.8% | 4% | D |
| 4,607 | Irvine KY | 2,273 | $43K | 19.4% | 5.4% | 11% | D |
| 4,608 | Canton MO | 2,763 | $55K | 15.1% | 11.0% | 23% | D |
| 4,609 | Woodbine NJ | 2,104 | $46K | 30.3% | 7.3% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Irvine, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Irvine and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Irvine workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irvine | – | D | A− | 28 min | $42,805 |
| Ravenna | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Ravenna: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Irvine’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 Irvine: questions
What is the median household income in Irvine?
$42,805 (±$10,486) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Irvine?
19.4%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Irvine?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Irvine work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (21%, 36 mi), Richmond (10%, 18 mi), Winchester (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Irvine walkable?
Irvine is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Irvine without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Irvine, from the people who make the trip.
More of Irvine
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.