Photo: KFD129 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Kennett trail those of 85% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Kennett are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 19.1% of residents are in poverty (Missouri 12.6%). Home is the office for 4% of workers, where Missouri as a whole has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Kennett stands out on work
How Kennett earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kennett is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #215 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Kennett’s grade up (5.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($52,500, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kennett could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How long Kennett spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kennett workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,731 commuters (the 4% 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.
Kennett by day and by night
On a workday 2,199 residents head out to work, 1,367 work right here, and 2,522 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 (1.09 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.
Where Kennett goes to work
Where Kennett clocks in
3% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
What work there is in Kennett: 3,889 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kennett, 2013 → 2023: 4,641 → 3,889. 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 Kennett’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Kennett
About 25% 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.
In Kennett, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kennett is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #104 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% 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 3,867 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). 10.5% of Kennett households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Kennett’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000, and where Kennett sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,646 | Sequim WA | 8,215 | $60K | 12.9% | 9.7% | 22% | D |
| 2,647 | Clanton AL | 9,289 | $48K | 18.1% | 7.1% | 23% | D |
| 2,648 | Kennett MO | 10,118 | $53K | 19.1% | 5.4% | 38% | D |
| 2,649 | Baker City OR | 10,071 | $62K | 14.0% | 7.2% | 53% | D |
| 2,650 | Farmville VA | 7,593 | $41K | 20.4% | 2.9% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Kennett, 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 Kennett: questions
What is the median household income in Kennett?
$52,500 (±$13,654) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kennett?
19.1%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kennett?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kennett work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Senath (3%, 10 mi), Paragould (3%, 29 mi), Caruthersville (2%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kennett walkable?
Kennett is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kennett without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kennett, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kennett
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.