Photo: Major optics · CC BY 3.0Bluffton has higher unemployment (9.3%) than 93% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Bluffton itself; outside it, Lima draws the most (9%, 16 miles). Jobs and income earn Bluffton B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 3.2% of residents live below the poverty line (Ohio 13.3%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Bluffton
Bluffton is where the jobs are
Bluffton has 2,733 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Bluffton makes and builds things
51% of the jobs based in Bluffton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bluffton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Bluffton’s workers comes from Findlay
203 of the people who work in Bluffton live in Findlay, 17 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Bluffton are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 23 across Ohio. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Ohio worker. Time on the road ↓
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 figures behind Bluffton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bluffton is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #669 of 992 in Ohio. The poverty rate holds Bluffton’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bluffton could be anywhere from C to A−.
A workday in Bluffton: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,006 residents head out to work, 380 work right here, and 2,353 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,200 people are in Bluffton on a workday afternoon, 35% 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.
Bluffton makes things: 51% of its jobs are in goods
2,733 jobs are based in Bluffton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bluffton, 2013 → 2023: 2,524 → 2,733. 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 Bluffton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Bluffton’s workforce comes from
Where Bluffton clocks in
9% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
About 18 minutes each way for Bluffton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bluffton workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,415 commuters (the 11% 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.
How far Bluffton goes to work
About 23% 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.
Bluffton is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bluffton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #60 of 993 in Ohio. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.7% across Ohio, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,593 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). 3.7% of Bluffton households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bluffton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bluffton places 2,395th of 4,264 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | South Russell OH | 3,913 | $172K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Beechwood Trails OH | 3,133 | $111K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Guilford Township OH | 3,158 | $112K | 0.5% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,393 | Newton IL | 2,715 | $62K | 11.1% | 1.3% | 25% | B− |
| 2,394 | Scott City KS | 3,855 | $55K | 2.8% | 3.5% | 42% | B− |
| 2,395 | Bluffton OH | 3,875 | $76K | 3.2% | 9.3% | 27% | B− |
| 2,396 | Pamelia NY | 3,238 | $67K | 10.4% | 2.7% | 7% | B− |
| 2,397 | Shelter Island NY | 3,351 | $134K | 6.0% | 7.1% | 31% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Bluffton, 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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bluffton: questions
What is the median household income in Bluffton?
$75,694 (±$13,294) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bluffton?
3.2%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bluffton?
18 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bluffton work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lima (9%, 16 mi), Findlay (4%, 17 mi), Ada (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bluffton walkable?
Bluffton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bluffton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bluffton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bluffton
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.