James Brothers' House and Farm · Photo: Americasroof · CC BY-SA 3.0Kearney has higher household incomes than 80% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Kearney for work; outside it, Kansas City is the main destination (29%, 19 miles). 3.6% of residents are in poverty, against 12.6% across Missouri. For jobs and income Kearney is better than 91% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Kearney in brief
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Kearney
The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kearney could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Where Kearney’s working residents head each day
Where Kearney clocks in
29% of workers
10% 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.
Kearney on a workday afternoon
On a workday 4,566 residents head out to work, 576 work right here, and 2,415 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,100 people are in Kearney on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.58 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 2,991 jobs based in Kearney
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kearney, 2013 → 2023: 2,547 → 2,991. 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 Kearney’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Kearney’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kearney workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,038 commuters (the 15% 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.
Where in the region Kearney works
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 of Kearney commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% of 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 5,943 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.3% of Kearney households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kearney’s commuters take a bus or train.
361st of 2,507: where Kearney ranks among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 359 | Somers CT | 10,938 | $125K | 2.7% | 3.4% | 11% | A |
| 360 | Minnetrista MN | 9,458 | $163K | 8.8% | 2.3% | 3% | A |
| 361 | Kearney MO | 11,296 | $104K | 3.6% | 2.6% | 11% | A |
| 362 | Hanson MA | 10,927 | $132K | 2.7% | 4.2% | 5% | A |
| 363 | Westampton Township NJ | 9,436 | $126K | 2.7% | 4.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Kearney, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
How Kearney compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kearney workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kearney | – | A | B | 24 min | $103,622 |
| Mosby | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Mosby: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Kearney’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 Kearney: questions
What is the median household income in Kearney?
$103,622 (±$11,158) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kearney?
3.6%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kearney?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kearney work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (29%, 19 mi), Liberty (10%, 8 mi), Claycomo (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kearney walkable?
Kearney is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kearney without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kearney, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kearney
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.