With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Thruston works elsewhere
90 jobs are based in Thruston for 897 working residents. Thruston grades C− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Hardly any work in Thruston itself; outside it, Owensboro draws the most (44%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Thruston apart on work
Thruston is a place people come home to
There are 90 jobs based in Thruston, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Thruston has about 1,800 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
44% of Thruston works in Owensboro
391 working residents, 44%, have their main job in Owensboro, 5.8 miles away. That’s 44 times as many as work in Thruston itself. The commute map ↓
Most Thruston residents work close to home
61% 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 897 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Thruston
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Thruston is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #90 of 142 in Kentucky. Job access by car holds Thruston’s grade up (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Thruston could be anywhere from D to A.
The daily commute in and out of Thruston
On a workday 892 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 85 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Thruston on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
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 places Thruston commutes to
Where Thruston clocks in
44% of workers
1% of workers
1% 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.
How far Thruston’s workers travel
About 17% 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.
What Thruston’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thruston, 2013 → 2023: 43 → 90. 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 Thruston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes to work from Thruston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thruston workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,043 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.
In Thruston, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thruston is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns, #140 of 142 in Kentucky. Both inputs place Thruston 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 1,135 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). 11.8% of Thruston households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thruston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Thruston is 3,706th among 5,083 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Lakeside Park KY | 2,847 | $129K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 15 | Indian Hills KY | 2,939 | $192K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Windy Hills KY | 2,476 | $131K | 5.1% | 1.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,704 | Lafayette Township PA | 2,071 | $67K | 10.3% | 0.0% | 2% | C− |
| 3,705 | Three Lakes WI | 2,444 | $70K | 9.8% | 2.7% | 16% | C− |
| 3,706 | Thruston KY | 2,581 | $70K | 21.6% | 6.5% | 1% | C− |
| 3,707 | Clifton Forge VA | 3,372 | $40K | 15.1% | 2.0% | 9% | C− |
| 3,708 | Blackstone VA | 3,389 | $55K | 26.6% | 2.4% | 13% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Thruston, 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 Thruston: questions
What is the median household income in Thruston?
$69,922 (±$40,431) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thruston?
21.6%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thruston?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thruston work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Owensboro (44%, 6 mi), Evansville (1%, 31 mi), Anderson Township (1%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thruston walkable?
Thruston is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thruston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thruston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thruston
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.