Photo: Richard David Ramsey · CC BY-SA 4.0Kentwood has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
The poverty rate is 35.3%, where Louisiana as a whole has 18.9%. Measured by household income, Kentwood is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. For jobs and income Kentwood is better than 2% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Kentwood apart
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
46% of the jobs in Kentwood are in trade, transport and utilities, against 23% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Kentwood workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Kentwood’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 773 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Kentwood’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Kentwood’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($31,364, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (8.1%) is left out: Kentwood’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, Kentwood could be anywhere from D− to D.
Miles to work from Kentwood
About 36% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The kinds of work in Kentwood
817 jobs are based in Kentwood.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kentwood, 2014 → 2024: 675 → 817. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Kentwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Kentwood on a workday afternoon
On a workday 685 residents head out to work, 88 work right here, and 729 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.06 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
12% of working residents work in Amite City
Where Kentwood clocks in
12% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Kentwood’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kentwood workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 657 commuters (the 1% 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.
Driving is how Kentwood gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 664 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). 9.1% of Kentwood households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kentwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Kentwood compares with U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Bayou Gauche LA | 1,908 | $163K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 263 | Montz LA | 2,074 | $92K | 4.7% | 0.2% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 403 | Des Allemands LA | 2,382 | $88K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,892 | Warrenton GA | 1,926 | $34K | 30.1% | 10.0% | 10% | D− |
| 4,893 | Vivian LA | 2,920 | $22K | 44.3% | 12.7% | 16% | D− |
| 4,894 | Kentwood LA | 2,217 | $31K | 35.3% | 8.1% | 11% | D− |
| 4,895 | Noel MO | 2,181 | $41K | 27.2% | 8.6% | 4% | D− |
| 4,896 | Sparta NC | 1,918 | $42K | 21.5% | 2.7% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Kentwood, 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 2024, 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 Kentwood: questions
What is the median household income in Kentwood?
$31,364 (±$5,897) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kentwood?
35.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kentwood?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kentwood work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amite City (12%, 14 mi), Hammond (6%, 30 mi), Baton Rouge (6%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Kentwood walkable?
Kentwood is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kentwood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kentwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kentwood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.