McKay-Thornberry House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Philpot are higher than in 65% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 1.2% of residents (Kentucky 16.1%). For jobs and income Philpot is better than 80% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (B−). Only 2% work in Philpot itself; outside it, Owensboro draws the most (35%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Philpot apart on work
Philpot and Owensboro trade workers both ways
Owensboro is the top workplace for Philpot residents (35%) and also where the most people who work in Philpot come from (25% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Philpot makes and builds things
71% of the jobs based in Philpot are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Philpot residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Philpot are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 24 across Kentucky. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Kentucky worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 422 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Philpot’s grade explained
The poverty rate holds Philpot’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Philpot’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, Philpot could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Where people from Philpot work
Where Philpot clocks in
35% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 71% of the jobs in Philpot
313 jobs are based in Philpot.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Philpot, 2013 → 2023: 327 → 313. 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 Philpot’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Philpot: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Philpot workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 403 commuters (the 8% 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.
A workday in Philpot: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 413 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 304 people come in from elsewhere.
About 930 people are in Philpot on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.74 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Philpot
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.
Few in Philpot walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Kentucky, on an EPA index of 3.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 438 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). 0.0% of Philpot households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Philpot’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Philpot comes 270th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Heritage Creek KY | 1,244 | $100K | 2.4% | 1.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Verona KY | 1,394 | $145K | 3.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 268 | Kindred ND | 1,044 | $105K | 3.5% | 1.6% | 9% | A− |
| 269 | Rock Creek WI | 1,013 | $104K | 2.8% | 3.7% | 1% | A− |
| 270 | Philpot KY | 1,036 | $88K | 1.2% | 5.5% | 2% | A− |
| 271 | Ellsworth WI | 1,136 | $121K | 3.1% | 0.4% | 3% | A− |
| 272 | Milford WI | 1,108 | $88K | 4.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Philpot, 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 Philpot: questions
What is the median household income in Philpot?
$87,692 (±$14,513) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Philpot?
1.2%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Philpot?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Philpot work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Owensboro (35%, 7 mi), Grass Township (2%, 19 mi), Evansville (2%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Philpot walkable?
Philpot is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 3.1 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Philpot without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Philpot, from the people who make the trip.
More of Philpot
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.