Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWork means Lexington for about two in five of Nicholasville’s working residents
The average commute, 24 minutes each way, matches the Kentucky norm. Jobs and income earn Nicholasville B−; getting around on foot earns it B. About one in five stay in Nicholasville for work; outside it, Lexington is the main destination (43%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Nicholasville
Nicholasville trades workers with the towns around it
Nicholasville has about as many jobs (12,648) as working residents (14,329), but they are mostly different people: 11,419 residents leave for work each day while 9,738 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Nicholasville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
43% of Nicholasville works in Lexington
6,134 working residents, 43%, have their main job in Lexington, 12 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Nicholasville itself. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Jobs & income in Nicholasville: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Nicholasville is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #55 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Nicholasville’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Nicholasville could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Nicholasville by day and by night
On a workday 11,419 residents head out to work, 2,910 work right here, and 9,738 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.88 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Nicholasville: the destinations
Where Nicholasville clocks in
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.
What the 12,648 jobs in Nicholasville are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nicholasville, 2014 → 2024: 10,986 → 12,648. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Nicholasville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Nicholasville’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nicholasville workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,453 commuters (the 9% 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 Nicholasville 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Nicholasville is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Nicholasville is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #64 of 142 in Kentucky. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 14,744 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 58% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 4% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.6% of Nicholasville households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Nicholasville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Nicholasville ranks: 846th of 1,255 U.S. towns of 24,000 to 46,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 403 | Jeffersontown KY | 29,193 | $82K | 6.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 568 | Independence KY | 30,198 | $102K | 8.8% | 4.3% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 646 | Florence KY | 34,018 | $71K | 9.5% | 3.1% | 17% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 844 | Midland MI | 42,806 | $73K | 10.3% | 4.1% | 43% | B− |
| 845 | Wallkill NY | 31,414 | $96K | 11.0% | 6.1% | 19% | B− |
| 846 | Nicholasville KY | 33,857 | $69K | 13.1% | 3.6% | 20% | B− |
| 847 | Springfield Township OH | 35,887 | $74K | 11.8% | 5.5% | 3% | B− |
| 848 | Kalispell MT | 31,851 | $63K | 10.0% | 2.6% | 45% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,255 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Nicholasville, 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 2024, 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 Nicholasville: questions
What is the median household income in Nicholasville?
$68,503 (±$5,682) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nicholasville?
13.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nicholasville?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nicholasville work?
20% work in town.
Is Nicholasville walkable?
Nicholasville is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nicholasville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 4% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nicholasville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nicholasville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.