Athens State Hospital Cow Barn · Photo: Ed!(Hall of Fame) · CC BY-SA 3.057% of Athens’ residents are college students
About one in three work in Athens itself; outside it, Columbus draws the most (9%, 66 miles). The two grades for Athens are C+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 8.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.7 in Cleveland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Athens and work: the main findings
Athens’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Athens is Columbus, 66 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (526) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Athens is where the jobs are
Athens has 11,728 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
42% 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 Athens are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 23 across Ohio. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Ohio worker. Time on the road ↓
Athens draws workers from far and wide
The 11,728 jobs in Athens are filled from a wide area. Athens’ own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 24%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
The four measures behind Athens’ grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Athens is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #723 of 992 in Ohio. Family income holds Athens’ grade up ($107,600, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.8%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (42% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 16.8%, against 40.0% for all residents. Unemployment (8.2%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($107,600), since student households pull the household median down ($38,204).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Athens could be anywhere from C to B+.
How many miles Athens commutes
About 42% 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.
A workday in Athens: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,767 residents head out to work, 1,982 work right here, and 9,746 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Athens on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
2.0 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.
How long Athens spends getting to work: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Athens workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,974 commuters (the 20% 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.
The daily trip into Athens
Where Athens clocks in
9% 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.
Most jobs in Athens are in services
11,728 jobs are based in Athens.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Athens, 2013 → 2023: 11,998 → 11,728. 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 Athens’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Athens is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Athens is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #1 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Athens 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 11,247 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 83% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 37% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 91% 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). 8.3% of Athens households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Athens’ commuters take a bus or train.
Athens is 1,157th of 1,516 U.S. towns of 18,000 to 34,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| 4 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,155 | Pace FL | 26,282 | $81K | 12.2% | 5.5% | 7% | C+ |
| 1,156 | Ypsilanti MI | 19,766 | $47K | 24.8% | 8.5% | 7% | C+ |
| 1,157 | Athens OH | 25,313 | $38K | 40.0% | 8.2% | 34% | C+ |
| 1,158 | La Porte IN | 22,600 | $59K | 16.4% | 3.5% | 31% | C+ |
| 1,159 | Middletown NY | 30,098 | $79K | 13.6% | 6.6% | 11% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Athens, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
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.
- Students. 57% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Athens: questions
What is the median household income in Athens?
$38,204 (±$8,071) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Athens?
40.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 16.8%. Ohio: 13.3%.
How long is the commute from Athens?
16 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Athens work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (9%, 66 mi), Nelsonville (2%, 11 mi), The Plains (2%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Athens walkable?
Athens is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.8 out of 20, and 31% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Athens without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 37% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Athens, from the people who make the trip.
More of Athens
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.