Photo: Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY · CC BY-SA 2.0Dayton has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Only 3% work in Dayton itself; outside it, Persia draws the most (6%, 5 miles). 163 jobs are based in Dayton for 485 working residents. Dayton grades D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Dayton
On income, poverty and job access, Dayton is better than 14% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Dayton’s grade up ($68,553, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.4%) is left out: Dayton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Dayton could be anywhere from D to C.
The daily flow of workers through Dayton
On a workday 471 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 149 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Dayton on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
Out of Dayton to work: where people go
Where Dayton clocks in
6% of workers
6% 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.
Goods jobs make up 38% of work in Dayton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dayton, 2013 → 2023: 194 → 163. 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 Dayton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Dayton: about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dayton workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 624 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% 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 Dayton works
About 20% 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.
The commute in Dayton is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dayton is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 722 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). 8.0% of Dayton households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dayton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dayton next to U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200: 4,805th of 6,161 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,803 | Orel Township IL | 1,338 | $49K | 11.0% | 2.3% | 7% | D |
| 4,804 | Jennings Township IN | 1,461 | $49K | 16.4% | 6.6% | 5% | D |
| 4,805 | Dayton NY | 1,637 | $69K | 18.3% | 1.4% | 3% | D |
| 4,806 | Diana NY | 1,607 | $59K | 11.5% | 2.1% | 5% | D |
| 4,807 | Butler Township OH | 1,193 | $59K | 26.2% | 2.6% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Dayton, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
How Dayton compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dayton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | – | D | C+ | 35 min | $68,553 |
| Perrysburg | under 3% | C− | C+ | 25 min | $62,333 |
| Persia | 6% | D | B+ | 27 min | $54,495 |
| Leon | under 3% | D | C+ | 35 min | $56,048 |
| Villenova | under 3% | D | D− | 24 min | $64,185 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Persia. Darker towns draw more of Dayton’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 Dayton: questions
What is the median household income in Dayton?
$68,553 (±$9,988) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dayton?
18.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dayton?
35 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dayton work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Persia (6%, 5 mi), Little Valley (6%, 16 mi), Collins (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dayton walkable?
Dayton is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dayton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dayton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dayton
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.