With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of West Van Lear works elsewhere
Hardly any work in West Van Lear itself; outside it, Paintsville draws the most (21%, 3 miles). There are 57 jobs in West Van Lear, against 238 working residents. Jobs and income earn West Van Lear B−; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in West Van Lear
West Van Lear’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, West Van Lear is better than 51% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds West Van Lear’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: West Van Lear’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, West Van Lear could be anywhere from C to B+.
Who works in West Van Lear, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 238 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 57 people come in from elsewhere.
About 970 people are in West Van Lear on a workday afternoon, 16% 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 West Van Lear commutes to
Where West Van Lear clocks in
21% of workers
16% 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.
Jobs in West Van Lear: what the 57 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in West Van Lear, 2013 → 2023: 115 → 57. 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 West Van Lear’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 27 minutes in West Van Lear
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of West Van Lear workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 470 commuters (the 13% 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 many miles West Van Lear commutes
About 26% 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 West Van Lear, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, West Van Lear is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. 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 539 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). 0.0% of West Van Lear households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of West Van Lear’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,423rd of 4,312: where West Van Lear ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Heritage Creek KY | 1,244 | $100K | 2.4% | 1.6% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,421 | Kinderhook Township MI | 1,452 | $83K | 7.5% | 1.6% | 1% | B− |
| 1,422 | Bridport VT | 1,251 | $83K | 4.4% | 0.0% | 2% | B− |
| 1,423 | West Van Lear KY | 1,155 | $67K | 3.5% | 0.0% | 0% | B− |
| 1,424 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 4% | B− |
| 1,425 | Henderson Township IL | 1,112 | $72K | 6.9% | 3.7% | <1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 West Van Lear, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Around West Van Lear: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | West Van Lear workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Van Lear | – | B− | C− | 27 min | $66,815 |
| Van Lear | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Van Lear: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of West Van Lear’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 West Van Lear: questions
What is the median household income in West Van Lear?
$66,815 (±$23,074) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in West Van Lear?
3.5%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from West Van Lear?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in West Van Lear work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paintsville (21%, 3 mi), Prestonsburg (16%, 7 mi), Lexington (6%, 93 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is West Van Lear walkable?
West Van Lear is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around West Van Lear without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from West Van Lear, from the people who make the trip.
More of West Van Lear
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.