Photo: Spiritrock4u at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Paris has lower household incomes than 80% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Paris itself; outside it, Lexington draws the most (28%, 15 miles). The poverty rate is 16.9%, where Kentucky as a whole has 16.1%. Jobs and income earn Paris C+; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Paris at work: what stands out
Paris trades workers with the towns around it
Paris has about as many jobs (5,304) as working residents (4,518), but they are mostly different people: 3,431 residents leave for work each day while 4,217 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Paris are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Paris and Lexington trade workers both ways
Lexington is the top workplace for Paris residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Paris come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Paris draws workers from far and wide
The 5,304 jobs in Paris are filled from a wide area. Paris’ own residents hold 20% and the ten next-biggest home towns 25%; the other 55% 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 Paris’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Paris is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #74 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Paris’ grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($55,839, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Paris could be anywhere from C− to B.
A workday in Paris: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,431 residents head out to work, 1,087 work right here, and 4,217 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 (1.17 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.
The towns that employ Paris’ residents
Where Paris 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 Paris: 5,304 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Paris, 2013 → 2023: 4,109 → 5,304. 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 Paris’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Paris: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Paris workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,089 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Paris
About 19% 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.
The commute in Paris is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Paris is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #53 of 142 in Kentucky. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,494 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). 7.6% of Paris households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Paris’ commuters take a bus or train.
Paris places 2,027th of 2,878 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Francisville KY | 10,565 | $159K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 173 | Oakbrook KY | 10,211 | $95K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,025 | Groton CT | 10,160 | $80K | 18.6% | 6.0% | 23% | C+ |
| 2,026 | Grinnell IA | 9,430 | $65K | 11.1% | 4.0% | 49% | C+ |
| 2,027 | Paris KY | 10,130 | $56K | 16.9% | 3.6% | 24% | C+ |
| 2,028 | Waynesboro PA | 11,190 | $67K | 10.2% | 4.9% | 11% | C+ |
| 2,029 | Floresville TX | 9,105 | $65K | 15.3% | 4.9% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Paris, 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 Paris: questions
What is the median household income in Paris?
$55,839 (±$8,051) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Paris?
16.9%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Paris?
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 Paris work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (28%, 15 mi), Georgetown (7%, 15 mi), Winchester (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Paris walkable?
Paris is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Paris without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Paris, from the people who make the trip.
More of Paris
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.