Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0A job hub: Paducah has 2.8 jobs per working resident, and 23,639 people come in to work
The two grades for Paducah are C for jobs and income and A for walkability. 29,099 jobs are based in Paducah for 10,294 working residents. Measured by household income, Paducah is behind 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Paducah: the gist
Paducah is where the jobs are
Paducah has 29,099 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 46,000 people are in town, 70% more than the 27,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Paducah are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
Paducah draws workers from far and wide
The 29,099 jobs in Paducah are filled from a wide area. Paducah’s own residents hold 19% and the ten next-biggest home towns 18%; the other 63% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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 Paducah’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Paducah is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #85 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Paducah’s grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (22.3%, 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, Paducah could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who commutes out of Paducah, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,834 residents head out to work and 5,460 work right here.
About 46,000 people are in Paducah on a workday afternoon, 70% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Paducah’s commute takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Paducah workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,540 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.
The towns that send workers to Paducah
Where Paducah clocks in
2% of workers
2% 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.
What Paducah’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Paducah, 2013 → 2023: 25,850 → 29,099. 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 Paducah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Paducah commutes
About 20% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Paducah
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,412 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). 10.4% of Paducah households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Paducah’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Paducah is 1,282nd of 1,477 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 36,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 454 | Jeffersontown KY | 29,193 | $82K | 6.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 655 | Independence KY | 30,198 | $102K | 8.8% | 4.3% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 737 | Florence KY | 34,018 | $71K | 9.5% | 3.1% | 17% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,280 | Jasmine Estates FL | 23,571 | $51K | 18.1% | 5.0% | 3% | C |
| 1,281 | Crestview FL | 31,193 | $65K | 11.2% | 5.8% | 19% | C |
| 1,282 | Paducah KY | 26,730 | $50K | 22.3% | 4.0% | 53% | C |
| 1,283 | Biscayne Gardens FL | 35,472 | $55K | 22.6% | 8.6% | 2% | C |
| 1,284 | Hayesville OR | 21,246 | $59K | 23.7% | 5.5% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,477 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Paducah, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
How Paducah compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Hendron (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Paducah’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Paducah: questions
What is the median household income in Paducah?
$49,915 (±$5,828) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Paducah?
22.3%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Paducah?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Paducah work?
53% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mayfield (2%, 23 mi), Calvert City (2%, 14 mi), Murray (2%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Paducah walkable?
Paducah is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Paducah without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Paducah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Paducah
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.