Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Bourbon trail those of 83% of U.S. towns
2% of workers work from home (Missouri 13%). Below the poverty line: 20.6% of residents, where Missouri as a whole has 12.6%. For jobs and income Bourbon is better than 9% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (C−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Bourbon, in brief
Bourbon and Sullivan trade workers both ways
Sullivan is the top workplace for Bourbon residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Bourbon come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Bourbon makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Bourbon are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bourbon residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Bourbon than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Bourbon fell from 1,070 in 2013 to 700 in 2023, −35%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 655 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Bourbon
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Bourbon’s grade.
Unemployment (4.7%) is left out: Bourbon’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, Bourbon could be anywhere from D− to C.
22% of working residents work in Sullivan
Where Bourbon clocks in
22% of workers
4% 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.
Goods jobs make up 43% of work in Bourbon
700 jobs are based in Bourbon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bourbon, 2013 → 2023: 1,070 → 700. 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 Bourbon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Bourbon, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 611 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 656 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 (1.07 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.
The daily trip from Bourbon: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bourbon workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 753 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% 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 Bourbon
About 29% 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.
Getting around Bourbon: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 767 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). 4.0% of Bourbon households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bourbon’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Bourbon ranks: 4,913th of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | LaBarque Creek MO | 1,457 | $133K | 1.1% | 1.7% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,911 | Vevay IN | 1,760 | $46K | 13.6% | 9.2% | 11% | D |
| 4,912 | Yale MI | 1,873 | $53K | 18.0% | 16.1% | 9% | D |
| 4,913 | Bourbon MO | 1,544 | $54K | 20.6% | 4.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,914 | Brocton NY | 1,310 | $59K | 24.6% | 5.8% | 6% | D |
| 4,915 | Sardinia OH | 1,101 | $58K | 25.9% | 3.8% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Bourbon, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
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 Bourbon: questions
What is the median household income in Bourbon?
$53,533 (±$15,963) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bourbon?
20.6%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bourbon?
29 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bourbon work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sullivan (22%, 6 mi), Cuba (4%, 10 mi), Union (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bourbon walkable?
Bourbon is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bourbon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bourbon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bourbon
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.