Photo: User:OHWiki · CC BY-SA 2.5Households in Ashland earn less than those in 74% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 16.6% of residents (Ohio 13.3%). Jobs and income earn Ashland C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. About two in five work in Ashland; the top destination outside it is Mansfield (7%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ashland at work: what stands out
Inside Ashland’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ashland is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #770 of 992 in Ohio. Unemployment holds Ashland’s grade up (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ashland could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Ashland fills up on a workday
On a workday 4,928 residents head out to work, 3,247 work right here, and 9,229 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in Ashland on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
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 Ashland’s workforce comes from
Where Ashland clocks in
7% 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.
The 12,476 jobs based in Ashland
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashland, 2013 → 2023: 11,165 → 12,476. 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 Ashland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Ashland’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashland workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,123 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Ohio: 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.
Half of Ashland commutes less than 13 miles
About 18% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Ashland
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashland is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #90 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Ashland near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,927 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). 9.2% of Ashland households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Ashland’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ashland ranks: 1,453rd of 1,915 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,451 | American Township OH | 14,434 | $65K | 8.1% | 7.7% | 13% | C+ |
| 1,452 | Imperial CA | 22,330 | $90K | 12.5% | 8.2% | 12% | C+ |
| 1,453 | Ashland OH | 18,730 | $60K | 16.6% | 3.8% | 40% | C+ |
| 1,454 | East Milton FL | 14,783 | $65K | 12.5% | 4.3% | 8% | C+ |
| 1,455 | Sunland Park NM | 18,268 | $63K | 22.4% | 4.6% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Ashland, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Next door to Ashland
The biggest share goes to Montgomery Township (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ashland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland | – | C+ | A− | 21 min | $60,029 |
| Montgomery Township | 1% | A | C− | 16 min | $99,979 |
| Milton Township | 1% | B− | C | 21 min | $73,295 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ashland’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 Ashland: questions
What is the median household income in Ashland?
$60,029 (±$6,466) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashland?
16.6%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashland?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashland work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mansfield (7%, 13 mi), Wooster (4%, 20 mi), Columbus (2%, 70 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashland walkable?
Ashland is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashland without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashland
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.