With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Vine Grove works elsewhere
Vine Grove grades B− for jobs and income and D for walkability. There are 422 jobs in Vine Grove, against 2,494 working residents. Only 2% stay in Vine Grove for work; outside it, Elizabethtown is the main destination (18%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Vine Grove apart
How Vine Grove earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Vine Grove is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #53 of 142 in Kentucky. Unemployment holds Vine Grove’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vine Grove could be anywhere from C to A−.
A workday in Vine Grove: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,445 residents head out to work, 49 work right here, and 373 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,900 people are in Vine Grove on a workday afternoon, 30% 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.
Commuting out of Vine Grove: the destinations
Where Vine Grove clocks in
18% 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.
What Vine Grove’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vine Grove, 2013 → 2023: 268 → 422. 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 Vine Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Vine Grove takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vine Grove workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,998 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Vine Grove
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.
Few in Vine Grove walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vine Grove is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns, #136 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 3,270 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). 4.8% of Vine Grove households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Vine Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,227 U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,500, Vine Grove comes 1,715th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Edgewood KY | 8,503 | $119K | 3.8% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 290 | Fort Wright KY | 6,240 | $105K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,713 | Spirit Lake IA | 5,525 | $66K | 6.3% | 3.1% | 38% | B− |
| 1,714 | Perry IA | 8,208 | $69K | 8.9% | 3.6% | 23% | B− |
| 1,715 | Vine Grove KY | 7,018 | $73K | 11.1% | 3.5% | 2% | B− |
| 1,716 | Red Lion PA | 6,523 | $73K | 16.0% | 3.1% | 6% | B− |
| 1,717 | Rockport MA | 7,126 | $96K | 6.3% | 8.4% | 14% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,227 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Vine Grove, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
The towns around Vine Grove
The biggest share goes to Radcliff (9%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Vine Grove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vine Grove | – | B− | D | 25 min | $72,560 |
| Radcliff | 9% | C− | B− | 25 min | $58,559 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Vine Grove’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 Vine Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Vine Grove?
$72,560 (±$14,300) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vine Grove?
11.1%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vine Grove?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vine Grove work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabethtown (18%, 9 mi), Louisville (10%, 32 mi), Radcliff (9%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vine Grove walkable?
Vine Grove is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vine Grove without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vine Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vine Grove
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.