Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Jackson are among the lowest of any U.S. town
Poverty touches 27.1% of residents, next to 16.1% for Kentucky as a whole. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Jackson 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 stands out about work in Jackson
Jackson has far more jobs than workers
Jackson has 2,248 jobs, 3.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,600 people are in town, 77% more than the 2,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Jackson are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Jackson workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 659 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Jackson gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Jackson is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Jackson’s grade.
Unemployment (12.3%) is left out: Jackson’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Jackson stays D−.
How many people are in Jackson by day
On a workday 430 residents head out to work, 229 work right here, and 2,019 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,600 people are in Jackson on a workday afternoon, 77% more than live here.
3.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The daily trip from Jackson: 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 Jackson workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 691 commuters (the <1% 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.
Where Jackson’s workers come from
Where Jackson clocks in
6% 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.
Jackson is a services town
2,248 jobs are based in Jackson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jackson, 2013 → 2023: 2,821 → 2,248. 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 Jackson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Jackson commutes less than 19 miles
About 28% 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.
Jackson 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, Jackson is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 693 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). 18.7% of Jackson households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jackson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jackson next to U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Pewee Valley KY | 1,668 | $157K | 3.0% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Windy Hills KY | 2,476 | $131K | 5.1% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,667 | Carbon Hill AL | 1,723 | $25K | 39.4% | 2.3% | 4% | D− |
| 5,668 | Sneads FL | 1,784 | $39K | 21.8% | 6.3% | 4% | D− |
| 5,669 | Jackson KY | 2,054 | $33K | 27.1% | 12.3% | 35% | D− |
| 5,670 | Drew MS | 1,658 | $24K | 34.6% | 13.7% | 3% | D− |
| 5,671 | Bruce MS | 1,608 | $27K | 31.1% | 3.2% | 14% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | 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 Jackson, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
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 Jackson: questions
What is the median household income in Jackson?
$32,683 (±$4,465) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jackson?
27.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jackson?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jackson work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hazard (6%, 23 mi), Lexington (4%, 68 mi), Beattyville (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jackson walkable?
Jackson is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jackson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jackson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jackson
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.