Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMount Vernon’s household incomes are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Mount Vernon grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. 32.7% of residents are in poverty (Kentucky 16.1%). About one in four work in Mount Vernon; the top destination outside it is Berea (10%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Mount Vernon at work: what stands out
The four measures behind Mount Vernon’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mount Vernon is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Mount Vernon’s grade up (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (3.5%) is left out: Mount Vernon’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, Mount Vernon could be anywhere from D− to D.
A workday in Mount Vernon: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 579 residents head out to work, 196 work right here, and 2,019 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,900 people are in Mount Vernon on a workday afternoon, 59% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where Mount Vernon’s workforce comes from
Where Mount Vernon clocks in
10% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Mount Vernon
2,215 jobs are based in Mount Vernon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Vernon, 2013 → 2023: 2,561 → 2,215. 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 Vernon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Mount Vernon: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Vernon workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 741 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.
Where in the region Mount Vernon works
About 16% 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.
Few in Mount Vernon walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Vernon is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 795 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). 15.0% of Mount Vernon households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mount Vernon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Mount Vernon next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Lakeside Park KY | 2,847 | $129K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 16 | Indian Hills KY | 2,939 | $192K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Windy Hills KY | 2,476 | $131K | 5.1% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,763 | Brogden NC | 2,733 | $42K | 31.1% | 9.3% | <1% | D |
| 4,764 | Lake Butler FL | 1,921 | $50K | 24.7% | 12.3% | 17% | D |
| 4,765 | Mount Vernon KY | 2,455 | $39K | 32.7% | 3.5% | 25% | D |
| 4,766 | Kimberling City MO | 2,345 | $50K | 19.5% | 7.0% | 5% | D |
| 4,767 | Pawnee OK | 1,974 | $41K | 14.9% | 2.8% | 35% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Vernon, 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 Vernon: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Vernon?
$38,697 (±$7,691) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Vernon?
32.7%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Vernon?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Vernon work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Berea (10%, 16 mi), Richmond (7%, 26 mi), Somerset (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Vernon walkable?
Mount Vernon is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Vernon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Vernon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Vernon
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.