Photo: Publichall · Public domainHousehold incomes in Mount Sterling are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
16.9% of residents live below the poverty line (Kentucky 16.1%). For jobs and income Mount Sterling is better than 34% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B). About one in seven work in Mount Sterling; the top destination outside it is Lexington (20%, 28 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Mount Sterling, in a few figures
Mount Sterling’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mount Sterling is Lexington, 28 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (621) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Mount Sterling is where the jobs are
Mount Sterling has 4,598 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
How Mount Sterling earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Mount Sterling’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($55,827, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mount Sterling could be anywhere from C− to B.
Where in the region Mount Sterling works
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.
Mount Sterling on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,555 residents head out to work, 494 work right here, and 4,104 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,100 people are in Mount Sterling on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.5 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.
The towns that send workers to Mount Sterling
Where Mount Sterling clocks in
7% 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.
What work there is in Mount Sterling: 4,598 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Sterling, 2013 → 2023: 4,902 → 4,598. 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 Mount Sterling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Mount Sterling, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Sterling workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,280 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.
Driving is how Mount Sterling gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 3,545 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). 12.0% of Mount Sterling households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mount Sterling’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 5,300 to 10,200, Mount Sterling ranks 2,233rd of 3,071 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 185 | Edgewood KY | 8,503 | $119K | 3.8% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 290 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,231 | Heber CA | 7,312 | $72K | 10.6% | 7.8% | 7% | C |
| 2,232 | Cherry Valley CA | 6,668 | $77K | 13.2% | 11.9% | 2% | C |
| 2,233 | Mount Sterling KY | 7,586 | $56K | 16.9% | 3.7% | 16% | C |
| 2,234 | Paulsboro NJ | 6,329 | $64K | 15.2% | 13.0% | 5% | C |
| 2,235 | Ross IN | 6,751 | $55K | 18.4% | 5.6% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,071 | 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 Mount Sterling, 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 Mount Sterling: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Sterling?
$55,827 (±$7,321) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Sterling?
16.9%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Sterling?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Sterling work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (20%, 28 mi), Winchester (7%, 14 mi), Georgetown (3%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Sterling walkable?
Mount Sterling is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Sterling 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 Mount Sterling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Sterling
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.