Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Lebanon are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
About half stay in Lebanon for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (5%, 9 miles). 25.6% of residents live below the poverty line (Kentucky 16.1%). For jobs and income Lebanon is better than 20% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lebanon at work: what stands out
Lebanon is where the jobs are
Lebanon has 7,652 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 12,000 people are in town, 74% more than the 6,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Lebanon draws workers from far and wide
The 7,652 jobs in Lebanon are filled from a wide area. Lebanon’s own residents hold 16% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Lebanon makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Lebanon are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Lebanon residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 37%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Lebanon 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 ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Lebanon gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Lebanon’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lebanon could be anywhere from D to C+.
Who commutes out of Lebanon, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,469 residents head out to work, 1,211 work right here, and 6,441 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Lebanon on a workday afternoon, 74% more than live here.
2.9 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where Lebanon’s workforce comes from
Where Lebanon clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
Lebanon works in goods: 44% of its jobs
7,652 jobs are based in Lebanon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lebanon, 2014 → 2024: 7,027 → 7,652. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lebanon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Lebanon: 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 Lebanon workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,406 commuters (the 4% 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.
Half of Lebanon commutes less than 8 miles
About 20% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Lebanon: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 2,494 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). 11.4% of Lebanon households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lebanon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lebanon is 2,694th of 3,201 U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 175 | Edgewood KY | 8,503 | $119K | 3.8% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 276 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,692 | Cranberry Township PA | 6,241 | $61K | 12.8% | 5.7% | 22% | C− |
| 2,693 | Denison IA | 8,214 | $66K | 17.5% | 5.4% | 54% | C− |
| 2,694 | Lebanon KY | 6,699 | $45K | 25.6% | 3.7% | 45% | C− |
| 2,695 | Winston OR | 5,680 | $57K | 23.6% | 4.0% | 6% | C− |
| 2,696 | Delhi NY | 5,545 | $63K | 13.4% | 4.9% | 31% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,201 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Lebanon, 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 2024, 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 Lebanon: questions
What is the median household income in Lebanon?
$45,479 (±$14,382) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lebanon?
25.6%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lebanon?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lebanon work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (5%, 9 mi), Bardstown (4%, 20 mi), Louisville (3%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lebanon walkable?
Lebanon is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lebanon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lebanon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lebanon
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.