Kearns has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
There are 3,613 jobs in Kearns, against 17,750 working residents. For jobs and income Kearns is better than 65% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (A−). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 14.8 in Salt Lake City.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Kearns and work: the main findings
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Kearns’ working residents have a job less than 8 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 26 minutes, longer than the Utah average of 22. Time on the road ↓
Most Kearns residents work close to home
70% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Kearns is a place people come home to
There are 3,613 jobs based in Kearns, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Kearns has about 21,000 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
29% of Kearns works in Salt Lake City
5,166 working residents, 29%, have their main job in Salt Lake City, 9.6 miles away. That’s 15 times as many as work in Kearns itself. The commute map ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Kearns
Job access by car holds Kearns’ grade up (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kearns could be anywhere from B to A−.
How long Kearns spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kearns workers work from home, vs 18% across Utah. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17,154 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Utah: 82% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Kearns’ workers travel
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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kearns
On a workday 17,399 residents head out to work, 351 work right here, and 3,262 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Kearns on a workday afternoon, 40% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
29% of working residents work in Salt Lake City
Where Kearns clocks in
29% of workers
7% 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 Kearns’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kearns, 2013 → 2023: 3,197 → 3,613. 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 Kearns’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Kearns, walking beats the bus
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.0% across Utah.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 19,197 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 57% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 2.9% of Kearns households have no vehicle (Utah 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Kearns’ commuters take a bus or train.
Kearns is 668th of 1,219 U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | Holladay UT | 31,162 | $117K | 4.1% | 2.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Syracuse UT | 39,909 | $133K | 4.8% | 1.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Kaysville UT | 33,307 | $133K | 3.4% | 2.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 666 | Willingboro Township NJ | 32,824 | $98K | 8.0% | 8.2% | 5% | B+ |
| 667 | San Gabriel CA | 38,186 | $90K | 10.6% | 5.9% | 8% | B+ |
| 668 | Kearns UT | 35,404 | $87K | 7.6% | 6.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 669 | West Warwick RI | 31,487 | $78K | 9.6% | 4.2% | 8% | B+ |
| 670 | Merritt Island FL | 34,992 | $94K | 7.4% | 4.1% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Kearns, the top three, the last and three more from Utah.
The towns next door employ 22% of Kearns
The biggest share goes to West Valley City (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kearns workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kearns | – | B+ | A− | 26 min | $86,968 |
| West Valley City | 12% | B+ | A | 23 min | $92,209 |
| Taylorsville | 3% | B+ | A− | 22 min | $86,413 |
| West Jordan | 7% | A | A− | 24 min | $108,153 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Kearns’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 Kearns: questions
What is the median household income in Kearns?
$86,968 (±$3,114) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,166 across Utah and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kearns?
7.6%, against 8.5% across Utah and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kearns?
26 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Utah and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kearns work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salt Lake City (29%, 10 mi), West Valley City (12%, 2 mi), West Jordan (7%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kearns walkable?
Kearns is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kearns without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 57% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kearns, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kearns
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.