Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Earning a living in New Castle
The trip to work takes 28 minutes on average, next to 24 for Kentucky and 26 for the U.S. Home is the office for 2% of workers (Kentucky 10%). Only 5% stay in New Castle for work; outside it, Louisville is the main destination (10%, 31 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets New Castle apart on work
Short hops and long hauls from New Castle
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.
New Castle fills up on a workday
On a workday 369 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 543 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in New Castle on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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.
Out of New Castle to work: where people go
Where New Castle clocks in
6% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in New Castle
561 jobs are based in New Castle.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Castle, 2013 → 2023: 540 → 561. 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 New Castle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 28 minutes in New Castle
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Castle workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 377 commuters (the 2% 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.
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 New Castle: questions
What is the median household income in New Castle?
$43,203 (±$11,991) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Castle?
18.5%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Castle?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Castle work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Louisville (10%, 31 mi), La Grange (6%, 12 mi), Jeffersontown (5%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around New Castle without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Castle, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Castle
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.