Photo: Joshua Reed · Public domainHouseholds in Winchester earn less than those in 82% of U.S. towns
17.3% of residents are in poverty, where Kentucky as a whole has 16.1%. For jobs and income Winchester is better than 39% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (B−). About one in four work in Winchester; the top destination outside it is Lexington (32%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Winchester: the figures worth knowing
Winchester and Lexington trade workers both ways
Lexington is the top workplace for Winchester residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Winchester come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Winchester draws workers from far and wide
The 10,799 jobs in Winchester are filled from a wide area. Winchester’s own residents hold 18% and the ten next-biggest home towns 22%; the other 60% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Winchester
Job access by car holds Winchester’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($54,378, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winchester could be anywhere from C to B−.
Commuting out of Winchester: the destinations
Where Winchester 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.
In and out of Winchester on a workday
On a workday 5,870 residents head out to work, 1,980 work right here, and 8,819 people come in from elsewhere.
About 22,000 people are in Winchester on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods jobs make up 29% of work in Winchester
10,799 jobs are based in Winchester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winchester, 2013 → 2023: 9,627 → 10,799. 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 Winchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Winchester
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winchester workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,517 commuters (the 14% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Winchester
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.
Most trips from Winchester start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of 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 8,693 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). 12.5% of Winchester households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Winchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Winchester is 1,300th of 1,760 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 26,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 277 | Burlington KY | 18,008 | $109K | 5.5% | 2.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 413 | Fort Thomas KY | 17,142 | $104K | 6.1% | 3.5% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 653 | Mount Washington KY | 18,989 | $96K | 5.3% | 4.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,298 | Spearfish SD | 14,154 | $66K | 15.2% | 2.2% | 46% | C+ |
| 1,299 | Cullman AL | 20,799 | $61K | 19.9% | 2.9% | 33% | C+ |
| 1,300 | Winchester KY | 19,514 | $54K | 17.3% | 3.6% | 25% | C+ |
| 1,301 | Oxford OH | 22,387 | $41K | 45.5% | 14.4% | 30% | C+ |
| 1,302 | Horseheads NY | 18,383 | $69K | 12.8% | 4.9% | 22% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,760 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Winchester, 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 Winchester: questions
What is the median household income in Winchester?
$54,378 (±$3,710) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winchester?
17.3%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winchester?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winchester work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (32%, 15 mi), Georgetown (4%, 26 mi), Richmond (2%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winchester walkable?
Winchester is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winchester without a car?
<1% 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 Winchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winchester
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.