Photo: FloNight (Sydney Poore) and Russell Poore · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Richmond earn less than those in 87% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Richmond itself; outside it, Lexington draws the most (28%, 23 miles). Poverty touches 19.5% of residents (Kentucky 16.1%). Jobs and income earn Richmond C−; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Richmond apart on work
Richmond is where the jobs are
Richmond has 21,291 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Richmond draws workers from far and wide
The 21,291 jobs in Richmond are filled from a wide area. Richmond’s own residents hold 20% and the ten next-biggest home towns 19%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Richmond’s workers comes from Lexington
1,699 of the people who work in Richmond live in Lexington, 23 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
A young workforce
31% of Richmond’s working residents are 29 or younger. 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.
The figures behind Richmond’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Richmond is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #100 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Richmond’s grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,870, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Richmond could be anywhere from D to C.
In and out of Richmond on a workday
On a workday 9,780 residents head out to work, 4,169 work right here, and 17,122 people come in from elsewhere.
About 48,000 people are in Richmond on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The daily trip into Richmond
Where Richmond clocks in
4% 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.
The 21,291 jobs based in Richmond
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Richmond, 2013 → 2023: 18,842 → 21,291. 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 Richmond’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Richmond’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Richmond workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17,590 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.
How far Richmond’s workers travel
About 18% 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.
Richmond is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Richmond is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #26 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Richmond 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 19,190 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). 7.1% of Richmond households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Richmond’s commuters take a bus or train.
Richmond next to U.S. towns of 28,000 to 55,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Jeffersontown KY | 29,193 | $82K | 6.5% | 2.8% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 487 | Independence KY | 30,198 | $102K | 8.8% | 4.3% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 562 | Florence KY | 34,018 | $71K | 9.5% | 3.1% | 17% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,019 | Lufkin TX | 34,350 | $57K | 18.0% | 7.0% | 46% | C− |
| 1,020 | Jacksonville AR | 29,460 | $50K | 19.8% | 8.4% | 12% | C− |
| 1,021 | Richmond KY | 40,663 | $51K | 19.5% | 6.7% | 30% | C− |
| 1,022 | Marrero LA | 32,540 | $41K | 23.0% | 8.2% | 7% | C− |
| 1,023 | Rome GA | 38,934 | $54K | 20.6% | 5.9% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,101 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Richmond, 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 Richmond: questions
What is the median household income in Richmond?
$50,870 (±$1,692) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Richmond?
19.5%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Richmond?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Richmond work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (28%, 23 mi), Berea (4%, 10 mi), Georgetown (2%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Richmond walkable?
Richmond is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Richmond without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Richmond, from the people who make the trip.
More of Richmond
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.