Samuel and Mary Logan Briggs House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainUnemployment in Stanford (1.1%) is lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Stanford for work; outside it, Danville is the main destination (21%, 10 miles). For jobs and income Stanford is better than 46% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+). Measured by household income, Stanford is behind 89% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Stanford, in brief
The four measures behind Stanford’s grade
Unemployment holds Stanford’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($49,337, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Stanford could be anywhere from C to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Stanford
On a workday 1,205 residents head out to work, 225 work right here, and 2,522 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,100 people are in Stanford on a workday afternoon, 35% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Where the people who work in Stanford live
Where Stanford clocks in
21% of workers
4% 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 2,747 jobs based in Stanford
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stanford, 2013 → 2023: 2,981 → 2,747. 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 Stanford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Stanford spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stanford workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,298 commuters (the 10% 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.
Half of Stanford commutes less than 19 miles
About 20% 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.
In Stanford, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,443 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). 3.3% of Stanford households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stanford’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Stanford ranks: 2,422nd of 4,430 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Lakeside Park KY | 2,847 | $129K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 16 | Indian Hills KY | 2,939 | $192K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Buckner KY | 4,119 | $164K | 0.1% | 2.1% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,420 | St. Marys Township KS | 4,018 | $82K | 8.7% | 5.1% | 34% | B− |
| 2,421 | Cleveland GA | 3,472 | $64K | 18.9% | 1.1% | 15% | B− |
| 2,422 | Stanford KY | 3,761 | $49K | 12.0% | 1.1% | 16% | B− |
| 2,423 | Mesopotamia Township OH | 3,376 | $66K | 20.3% | 1.0% | 5% | B− |
| 2,424 | Briar Creek Township PA | 3,044 | $77K | 6.0% | 6.3% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,430 | 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 Stanford, 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 Stanford: questions
What is the median household income in Stanford?
$49,337 (±$12,771) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stanford?
12.0%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stanford?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stanford work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Danville (21%, 10 mi), Lexington (9%, 37 mi), Harrodsburg (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stanford walkable?
Stanford is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stanford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Stanford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stanford
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.