Irvington Historic District · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainIrvington’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 6% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C−: more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 32 minutes each way (Kentucky 24, U.S. 26). Only 1% work in Irvington; the top destination outside it is Louisville (10%, 40 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Irvington
Irvington’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Irvington is Louisville, 40 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (50) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Irvington workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 24 across Kentucky. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical 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; with 477 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Irvington’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Irvington is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Irvington’s grade up (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (27.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (4.2%) is left out: Irvington’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Irvington could be anywhere from D− to D.
Half of Irvington commutes less than 36 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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.
About 32 minutes each way, longer than most of Kentucky
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Irvington workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 546 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across Kentucky: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Irvington quiets down on a workday
On a workday 470 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 167 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Irvington on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.36 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in Louisville
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Irvington clocks in
7% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 174 jobs in Irvington are
174 jobs are based in Irvington. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Irvington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Irvington, 2013 → 2023: 253 → 174. 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.
Most trips from Irvington start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Irvington is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Kentucky.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 557 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). 6.3% of Irvington households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Irvington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Irvington is 5,238th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Irvington, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Pewee Valley KY | 1,668 | $157K | 3.0% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,236 | Kenwood OK | 1,284 | $58K | 18.5% | 6.6% | 0% | D |
| 5,237 | Cobden IL | 1,024 | $46K | 28.8% | 4.0% | 3% | D |
| 5,238 | Irvington KY | 1,396 | $48K | 27.1% | 4.2% | 1% | D |
| 5,239 | Cowan TN | 1,799 | $46K | 30.8% | 10.5% | 1% | D |
| 5,240 | Louisville Township IL | 1,640 | $55K | 28.1% | 8.9% | 9% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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.
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 Irvington: questions
What is the median household income in Irvington?
$47,500 (±$4,964) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Irvington?
27.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Irvington?
32 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Irvington work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Louisville (10%, 40 mi), Hardinsburg (7%, 12 mi), Elizabethtown (7%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Irvington walkable?
Irvington is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Irvington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Irvington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Irvington
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.