For more than half of its working residents, Plano is a commute to Bowling Green
Working from home is the commute for 17% of workers, where Kentucky as a whole has 10%. Plano grades B+ for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Hardly any stay in Plano for work; outside it, Bowling Green is the main destination (58%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Plano apart on work
More than half of Plano works in Bowling Green
337 working residents, 58%, have their main job in Bowling Green, 6.9 miles away. That’s far more as work in Plano itself. The commute map ↓
Plano is a place people come home to
There are 74 jobs based in Plano, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Plano has about 790 people in it, 39% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Most Plano residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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 579 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Plano’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Plano is better than 67% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Plano’s grade up (5.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (8.6%) is left out: Plano’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Plano could be anywhere from C− to A.
Where the trip to work from Plano ends
Where Plano clocks in
58% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Plano
On a workday 577 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 72 people come in from elsewhere.
About 790 people are in Plano on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.
0.13 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.
Plano’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% 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.
Plano works in goods: 65% of its jobs
74 jobs are based in Plano.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plano, 2013 → 2023: 66 → 74. 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 Plano’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Plano: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plano workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 513 commuters (the 17% 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.
Plano is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plano is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Plano near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 617 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 Plano households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Plano’s commuters take a bus or train.
Plano next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700: 952nd of 4,866 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Pewee Valley KY | 1,668 | $157K | 3.0% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 950 | Paola Township KS | 1,086 | $88K | 8.1% | 7.5% | 2% | B+ |
| 951 | Plain Township OH | 1,653 | $74K | 5.3% | 8.8% | <1% | B+ |
| 952 | Plano KY | 1,290 | $80K | 5.3% | 8.6% | <1% | B+ |
| 953 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| 954 | Smithville OH | 1,333 | $72K | 6.7% | 1.8% | 8% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Plano, 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 Plano: questions
What is the median household income in Plano?
$80,188 (±$44,397) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plano?
5.3%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plano?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plano work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bowling Green (58%, 7 mi), Franklin (4%, 14 mi), Lexington (2%, 134 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plano walkable?
Plano is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plano 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 Plano, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plano
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.