Households in Kaplan have lower incomes than those in 96% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Kaplan for work; outside it, Lafayette is the main destination (20%, 21 miles). 35.3% of residents are in poverty, where Louisiana as a whole has 18.9%. For jobs and income Kaplan is better than 7% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Kaplan, in a few figures
Commutes from Kaplan are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Kaplan workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Kaplan’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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.
The four measures behind Kaplan’s grade
Job access by car holds Kaplan’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kaplan could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Getting to work from Kaplan takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kaplan workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,432 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 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.
The kinds of work in Kaplan
899 jobs are based in Kaplan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kaplan, 2013 → 2023: 929 → 899. 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 Kaplan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Kaplan
On a workday 1,346 residents head out to work, 181 work right here, and 718 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Kaplan on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.59 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 towns that employ Kaplan’s residents
Where Kaplan clocks in
20% of workers
3% 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 Kaplan goes to work
About 24% 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 Kaplan walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,468 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). 11.4% of Kaplan households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kaplan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Kaplan next to U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 299 | Hahnville LA | 3,520 | $101K | 6.7% | 0.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 766 | South Vacherie LA | 2,954 | $81K | 3.7% | 1.6% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 933 | Greenwood LA | 3,077 | $64K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,851 | Nelsonville OH | 4,488 | $50K | 16.6% | 11.6% | 16% | D |
| 3,852 | Boscobel WI | 3,250 | $54K | 20.6% | 7.1% | 29% | D |
| 3,853 | Kaplan LA | 4,116 | $40K | 35.3% | 8.8% | 12% | D |
| 3,854 | Perham MN | 3,746 | $50K | 19.1% | 8.9% | 45% | D |
| 3,855 | Ellisville MS | 4,473 | $32K | 22.9% | 10.9% | 11% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Kaplan, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
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 Kaplan: questions
What is the median household income in Kaplan?
$40,109 (±$20,841) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kaplan?
35.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kaplan?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kaplan work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (20%, 21 mi), Abbeville (15%, 10 mi), Baton Rouge (3%, 75 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kaplan walkable?
Kaplan is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kaplan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kaplan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kaplan
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.