Photo: Chris Light. · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Marion earn less than those in 96% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 25.1% of residents, where Kentucky as a whole has 16.1%. The two grades for Marion are D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. About one in three work in Marion; the top destination outside it is Princeton (6%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Marion’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Marion is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #140 of 142 in Kentucky. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Marion’s grade.
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: Marion’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, Marion could be anywhere from D− to D.
How a workday changes Marion
On a workday 812 residents head out to work, 406 work right here, and 1,187 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Marion on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 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.
The towns that employ Marion’s residents
Where Marion clocks in
6% of workers
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.
Inside Marion’s 1,593 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marion, 2013 → 2023: 1,836 → 1,593. 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 Marion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Marion takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marion workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 875 commuters (the 10% 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.
How far it is to work from Marion
About 21% 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.
The commute in Marion is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marion is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns, #124 of 142 in Kentucky. 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 967 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). 0.7% of Marion households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marion’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Marion sits among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Lakeside Park KY | 2,847 | $129K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 17 | Indian Hills KY | 2,939 | $192K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | Windy Hills KY | 2,476 | $131K | 5.1% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,736 | Kirbyville TX | 2,031 | $43K | 23.7% | 10.5% | 19% | D− |
| 4,737 | Denver Township MI | 2,088 | $42K | 21.0% | 3.3% | 3% | D− |
| 4,738 | Marion KY | 2,879 | $39K | 25.1% | 1.7% | 33% | D− |
| 4,739 | Ronan MT | 2,209 | $42K | 21.6% | 4.9% | 28% | D− |
| 4,740 | Grifton NC | 2,539 | $37K | 32.7% | 18.3% | 3% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Marion, 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 Marion: questions
What is the median household income in Marion?
$39,414 (±$5,892) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marion?
25.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marion?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marion work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Princeton (6%, 19 mi), Paducah (5%, 36 mi), Salem (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marion walkable?
Marion is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marion without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marion
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.