Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Mayfield has lower household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
26.9% of residents are in poverty, against 16.1% across Kentucky. Mayfield grades C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in three stay in Mayfield for work; outside it, Paducah is the main destination (13%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Mayfield: the figures worth knowing
Mayfield draws workers from far and wide
The 6,541 jobs in Mayfield are filled from a wide area. Mayfield’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 12%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Mayfield is where the jobs are
Mayfield has 6,541 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Mayfield are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
Mayfield’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mayfield is Paducah, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (470) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
Where Mayfield’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mayfield is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #95 of 142 in Kentucky. Unemployment holds Mayfield’s grade up (3.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($40,965, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mayfield could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where the people who work in Mayfield live
Where Mayfield clocks in
13% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
Who leaves Mayfield for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,557 residents head out to work, 1,100 work right here, and 5,441 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Mayfield on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.8 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.
About 17 minutes to work from Mayfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mayfield workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,730 commuters (the 11% 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.
Miles to work from Mayfield
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.
The kinds of work in Mayfield
6,541 jobs are based in Mayfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mayfield, 2013 → 2023: 5,890 → 6,541. 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 Mayfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Mayfield gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mayfield is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #66 of 142 in Kentucky. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% 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 4,195 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). 12.4% of Mayfield households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mayfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,330th of 2,761: where Mayfield ranks among U.S. towns of 6,900 to 13,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Francisville KY | 10,565 | $159K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Oakbrook KY | 10,211 | $95K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,328 | Edwards CO | 10,785 | $82K | 12.5% | 10.3% | 18% | C− |
| 2,329 | Batesville AR | 11,860 | $52K | 26.3% | 3.4% | 53% | C− |
| 2,330 | Mayfield KY | 9,851 | $41K | 26.9% | 3.4% | 30% | C− |
| 2,331 | Airway Heights WA | 11,811 | $63K | 19.5% | 8.9% | 13% | C− |
| 2,332 | Liberty Township OH | 10,515 | $63K | 16.2% | 4.9% | 26% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,761 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Mayfield, 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 Mayfield: questions
What is the median household income in Mayfield?
$40,965 (±$6,699) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mayfield?
26.9%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mayfield?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mayfield work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paducah (13%, 23 mi), Murray (4%, 20 mi), Calvert City (2%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mayfield walkable?
Mayfield is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mayfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mayfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mayfield
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.