Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Where La Center earns its living
0% of workers work from home; Kentucky has 10%. Only 5% work in La Center itself; outside it, Paducah draws the most (30%, 18 miles). The trip to work takes 22 minutes on average; Kentucky averages 24, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set La Center apart
Many jobs in La Center pay little
36% of the jobs based in La Center pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 31% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
30% of La Center works in Paducah
103 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Paducah, 18 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in La Center itself. The commute map ↓
Few La Center 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 348 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs in La Center: what the 333 are
333 jobs are based in La Center.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Center, 2013 → 2023: 283 → 333. 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 La Center’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting out of La Center: the destinations
Where La Center clocks in
30% of workers
4% 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.
A commute of about 22 minutes in La Center
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Center workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 248 commuters (the 0% 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.
Who leaves La Center for work, and who comes in
On a workday 329 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 314 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.96 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.
Short hops and long hauls from La Center
About 18% 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 La Center: questions
What is the median household income in La Center?
$56,776 (±$14,454) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Center?
27.2%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Center?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Center work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paducah (30%, 18 mi), Wickliffe (4%, 10 mi), Kevil (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around La Center without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from La Center, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Center
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.