Photo: Nyttend · Public domainBuckeye Lake has lower unemployment (1.2%) than 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Buckeye Lake B+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Only 6% work in Buckeye Lake itself; outside it, Columbus draws the most (20%, 27 miles). Commuters spend 22 minutes getting to work on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Buckeye Lake, in brief
The better-paid jobs are outside Buckeye Lake
57% of Buckeye Lake residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 25% of the jobs based in Buckeye Lake pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Buckeye Lake has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Buckeye Lake went from 358 in 2014 to 596 in 2024, +66%. The jobs ↓
Buckeye Lake’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Buckeye Lake is Columbus, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (211) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Buckeye Lake pay little
26% of the jobs based in Buckeye Lake pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 39% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Buckeye Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Buckeye Lake is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #374 of 992 in Ohio. Unemployment holds Buckeye Lake’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (15.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Buckeye Lake could be anywhere from C+ to A.
What work there is in Buckeye Lake: 596 jobs
596 jobs are based in Buckeye Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buckeye Lake, 2014 → 2024: 358 → 596. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Buckeye Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Buckeye Lake goes to work
About 16% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Who commutes out of Buckeye Lake, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,005 residents head out to work, 66 work right here, and 530 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Buckeye Lake on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.56 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Buckeye Lake’s working residents head each day
Where Buckeye Lake clocks in
20% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
Buckeye Lake’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buckeye Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,262 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.
Buckeye Lake 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, Buckeye Lake is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #98 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Buckeye Lake 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 1,424 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). 3.7% of Buckeye Lake households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buckeye Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,263rd of 5,083: where Buckeye Lake ranks among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Jersey Township OH | 2,678 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Silver Lake OH | 2,504 | $140K | 2.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Evendale OH | 2,657 | $149K | 1.5% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,261 | Maybrook NY | 3,212 | $72K | 6.1% | 3.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,262 | Cohoctah Township MI | 3,185 | $86K | 5.4% | 3.5% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,263 | Buckeye Lake OH | 2,590 | $79K | 15.1% | 1.2% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,264 | Tully NY | 2,618 | $109K | 9.9% | 3.4% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,265 | Byron NY | 2,276 | $99K | 5.4% | 4.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Buckeye Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Work in the towns next to Buckeye Lake
The biggest share goes to Union Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Buckeye Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckeye Lake | – | B+ | A− | 22 min | $79,286 |
| Harbor Hills | under 2% | A | D | 29 min | $86,136 |
| Union Township | 4% | B+ | C+ | 24 min | $95,347 |
| Licking Township | under 2% | A− | C | 26 min | $92,048 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Buckeye Lake’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 2024, 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 Buckeye Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Buckeye Lake?
$79,286 (±$31,642) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buckeye Lake?
15.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buckeye Lake?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buckeye Lake work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (20%, 27 mi), Newark (8%, 10 mi), Hebron (5%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Buckeye Lake walkable?
Buckeye Lake is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buckeye Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buckeye Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buckeye Lake
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.