Photo: Erik Drost · CC BY 2.0Canton has lower household incomes than 94% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Canton is better than 18% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (A−). The poverty rate is 27.4%, next to 13.3% for Ohio as a whole. About one in five work in Canton itself; outside it, Jackson Township draws the most (12%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Canton’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds Canton’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Canton stays C−.
How many people are in Canton by day
On a workday 21,350 residents head out to work, 6,060 work right here, and 32,142 people come in from elsewhere.
About 80,000 people are in Canton on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 per resident).
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 people from Canton work
Where Canton clocks in
12% of workers
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.
What Canton’s employers do
38,202 jobs are based in Canton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Canton, 2013 → 2023: 41,781 → 38,202. 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 Canton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Canton spends getting to work: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Canton workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 26,868 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Canton
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: Canton
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 29,458 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). 14.8% of Canton households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Canton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Canton sits among U.S. towns of 48,000 to 93,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Dublin OH | 49,094 | $160K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% | A+ |
| 6 | Washington Township OH | 51,915 | $148K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Violet Township OH | 50,908 | $122K | 3.4% | 3.6% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 625 | Pontiac MI | 62,077 | $44K | 24.4% | 10.1% | 12% | C− |
| 626 | Madera CA | 69,017 | $64K | 25.6% | 12.6% | 27% | C− |
| 627 | Canton OH | 69,001 | $43K | 27.4% | 7.8% | 22% | C− |
| 628 | Camden NJ | 71,430 | $41K | 30.2% | 14.5% | 17% | C− |
| 629 | Erie PA | 91,838 | $46K | 23.3% | 7.1% | 47% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 651 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Canton, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Canton and its neighbors: 23% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Canton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canton | – | C− | A− | 19 min | $43,188 |
| Canton Township | 2% | B | C | 21 min | $61,760 |
| Plain Township | 4% | A− | B | 21 min | $74,848 |
| Osnaburg Township | under 2% | A− | C− | 26 min | $72,281 |
| Jackson Township | 12% | A | B− | 22 min | $93,927 |
| North Canton | 3% | A− | A− | 21 min | $72,544 |
| Nimishillen Township | under 2% | A | C− | 28 min | $91,769 |
| East Canton | under 2% | B− | C+ | 19 min | $57,364 |
| Reedurban | under 2% | C+ | A− | 17 min | $57,000 |
| Perry Township | 2% | B+ | B− | 19 min | $68,771 |
| Meyers Lake | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Meyers Lake: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Jackson Township. Darker towns draw more of Canton’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 Canton: questions
What is the median household income in Canton?
$43,188 (±$2,980) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Canton?
27.4%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Canton?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Canton work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson Township (12%, 7 mi), Akron (6%, 20 mi), Massillon (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Canton walkable?
Canton is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Canton without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Canton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Canton
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.