Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Manchester has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Poverty touches 41.1% of residents, where Kentucky as a whole has 16.1%. Measured by household income, Manchester is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. For jobs and income Manchester is better than 3% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (C−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Manchester: the gist
Manchester has far more jobs than workers
Manchester has 1,770 jobs, 4.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,800 people are in town, 95% more than the 1,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 426 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Manchester’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Manchester’s grade up (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($23,529, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.5%) is left out: Manchester’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, Manchester could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who works in Manchester, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 325 residents head out to work, 101 work right here, and 1,669 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Manchester on a workday afternoon, 95% more than live here.
4.2 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Manchester
About 30% 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.
Where the people who work in Manchester live
Where Manchester clocks in
11% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Manchester
1,770 jobs are based in Manchester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manchester, 2013 → 2023: 1,609 → 1,770. 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 Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Manchester’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manchester workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 501 commuters (the 7% 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.
Getting around Manchester: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 536 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). 24.3% of Manchester households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Manchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Manchester and other U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,502 | Mayo FL | 1,119 | $54K | 21.4% | 9.3% | 13% | D− |
| 5,503 | Arlington GA | 1,126 | $48K | 22.6% | 3.1% | 5% | D− |
| 5,504 | Manchester KY | 1,411 | $24K | 41.1% | 9.5% | 24% | D− |
| 5,505 | Belzoni MS | 1,719 | $34K | 18.8% | 9.4% | 13% | D− |
| 5,506 | Laurie MO | 1,087 | $50K | 20.0% | 10.5% | 14% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Manchester, 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 Manchester: questions
What is the median household income in Manchester?
$23,529 (±$16,166) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manchester?
41.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manchester?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manchester work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are London (11%, 17 mi), Lexington (7%, 72 mi), Somerset (3%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manchester walkable?
Manchester is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manchester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manchester
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.