Work & commute · Hays

Work & commute in Hays, KS

63% of Hays’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Big Creek (7%), Wichita (2%) and Great Bend (1%). Half commute less than 2 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

63%

5,535 of 8,845 working residents

Typical commute

2 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

11 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,310 Hays residents head out of town to work, 5,535 work right here, and 5,966 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Hays.

3,310live here, work elsewhere

5,535live and work here

5,966work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Hays goes to work

Hays (in town)right here

63%5,535

Big Creek7.7 mi away

7%580

Wichita135.1 mi away

2%192

Great Bend45.9 mi away

1%121

Garden City103.8 mi away

1%102

Russell25.3 mi away

1%95

Dodge City86.2 mi away

1%91

Ellis13.1 mi away

1%88

Topeka195.1 mi away

1%85

Salina92 mi away

1%69

Everywhere elseother towns and states

21%1,887

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Hays commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

70%

22%

70%Under 10 mi

3%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Hays is balanced between jobs and homes

1.30jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.30 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Hays are

11,501 jobs are based in Hays. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hays’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Hays

11,501 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)73%

$1,250 a month or less23%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month45%

Jobs Hays residents hold

8,845 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month50%

−0%

Jobs based in Hays, 2013 → 2023: 11,513 → 11,501. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.