Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Kenedy (0.5%) is lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Kenedy; the top destination outside it is San Antonio (14%, 61 miles). For jobs and income Kenedy is better than 37% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (B+). At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (Texas 14%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Kenedy and work: the main findings
Kenedy trades workers with the towns around it
Kenedy has about as many jobs (1,579) as working residents (1,794), but they are mostly different people: 1,562 residents leave for work each day while 1,347 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in Kenedy are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Kenedy’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Kenedy is San Antonio, 61 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (250) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
56% 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 ↓
Commutes from Kenedy are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Kenedy workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 14% across Texas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Kenedy’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Kenedy’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kenedy could be anywhere from C− to A−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kenedy
On a workday 1,562 residents head out to work, 232 work right here, and 1,347 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 (0.88 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.
How far it is to work from Kenedy
About 56% 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.
About 17 minutes to work from Kenedy
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kenedy workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,692 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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 Kenedy goes to work
Where Kenedy clocks in
14% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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.
The kinds of work in Kenedy
1,579 jobs are based in Kenedy.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kenedy, 2013 → 2023: 1,593 → 1,579. 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 Kenedy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Kenedy gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.0% across Texas, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,760 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). 17.0% of Kenedy households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kenedy’s commuters take a bus or train.
Kenedy next to U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500: 2,888th of 4,593 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,886 | Onawa IA | 2,821 | $62K | 16.3% | 1.2% | 31% | C+ |
| 2,887 | Perry OK | 4,448 | $54K | 13.1% | 1.4% | 44% | C+ |
| 2,888 | Kenedy TX | 3,305 | $61K | 16.3% | 0.5% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,889 | Strafford MO | 2,789 | $65K | 14.4% | 5.2% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,890 | Red Lodge MT | 2,723 | $56K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 53% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | 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 Kenedy, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
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 Kenedy: questions
What is the median household income in Kenedy?
$61,167 (±$41,040) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kenedy?
16.3%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kenedy?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kenedy work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Antonio (14%, 61 mi), Austin (5%, 103 mi), Houston (5%, 163 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kenedy walkable?
Kenedy is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kenedy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kenedy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kenedy
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.