James Trigg House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Prospect are higher than in 96% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Prospect are A for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Poverty touches 2.4% of residents, where Kentucky as a whole has 16.1%. Working from home is the commute for 20% of workers, next to 10% for Kentucky as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Prospect at work: what stands out
Prospect and Louisville trade workers both ways
Louisville is the top workplace for Prospect residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Prospect come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A lot of Prospect works from home
20% of Prospect workers work from home, against 10% across Kentucky. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Prospect
70% of Prospect residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 51% of the jobs based in Prospect pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
How Prospect earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Prospect is better than 93% of U.S. towns, #10 of 142 in Kentucky. Household income is its strongest input ($163,462, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Prospect could be anywhere from A− to A+.
17% of working residents work in Louisville
Where Prospect clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Prospect
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prospect workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,635 commuters (the 20% 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.
Inside Prospect’s 1,267 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prospect, 2013 → 2023: 986 → 1,267. 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 Prospect’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Prospect by day and by night
On a workday 1,875 residents head out to work, 80 work right here, and 1,187 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Prospect on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.65 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Prospect
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.
In Prospect, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Prospect is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns, #129 of 142 in Kentucky. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,045 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.7% of Prospect households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Prospect’s commuters take a bus or train.
294th of 3,867: where Prospect ranks among U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 279 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 292 | Hunters Creek Village TX | 4,498 | $250K | 2.8% | 5.5% | 2% | A |
| 293 | New Castle DE | 5,726 | $89K | 4.7% | 1.3% | 8% | A |
| 294 | Prospect KY | 4,705 | $163K | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4% | A |
| 295 | Royalton Township MI | 5,198 | $129K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A |
| 296 | West Laurel MD | 4,428 | $165K | 2.6% | 5.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 395 | Hurstbourne KY | 4,787 | $116K | 5.5% | 3.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Prospect, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Prospect and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Prospect workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prospect | – | A | C− | 22 min | $163,462 |
| Green Spring | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Green Spring: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Prospect’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 Prospect: questions
What is the median household income in Prospect?
$163,462 (±$27,438) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prospect?
2.4%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prospect?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prospect work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Louisville (17%, 11 mi), St. Matthews (5%, 7 mi), Jeffersontown (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Prospect walkable?
Prospect is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Prospect without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prospect, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prospect
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.