Worthington has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Employers in Worthington report 159 jobs for 592 working residents. The two grades for Worthington are C+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers; Kentucky has 10%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Worthington
Where Worthington’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Worthington is better than 38% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Worthington’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($65,609, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.0%) is left out: Worthington’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, Worthington could be anywhere from C to B.
In and out of Worthington on a workday
On a workday 579 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 146 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Worthington 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.
21% of working residents work in Ashland
Where Worthington clocks in
21% of workers
5% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 50% of the jobs in Worthington
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Worthington, 2013 → 2023: 133 → 159. 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 Worthington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Worthington takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Worthington workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 858 commuters (the 2% 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.
Worthington’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% 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.
For most of Worthington, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Worthington is more walkable than 43% 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 879 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). 1.4% of Worthington households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Worthington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Worthington places 3,041st of 6,308 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Pewee Valley KY | 1,668 | $157K | 3.0% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Coldstream KY | 1,325 | $109K | 2.8% | 0.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,039 | Wayne Township PA | 1,009 | $79K | 7.2% | 9.8% | <1% | C+ |
| 3,040 | Buffalo IA | 1,146 | $70K | 18.8% | 2.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 3,041 | Worthington KY | 1,447 | $66K | 12.0% | 3.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 3,042 | Clear Lake SD | 1,220 | $85K | 9.8% | 3.8% | 28% | C+ |
| 3,043 | Quinlan TX | 1,601 | $45K | 10.0% | 6.0% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Worthington, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
How Worthington compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Raceland (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Worthington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worthington | – | C+ | C+ | 22 min | $65,609 |
| Raceland | 3% | C− | C+ | 21 min | $57,222 |
| Wurtland | under 3% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Wurtland: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Worthington’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 Worthington: questions
What is the median household income in Worthington?
$65,609 (±$4,423) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Worthington?
12.0%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Worthington?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Worthington work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ashland (21%, 8 mi), Russell (9%, 3 mi), Huntington (5%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Worthington walkable?
Worthington is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Worthington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Worthington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Worthington
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.