Photo: Nyttend · Public domainAt 2.7%, unemployment in Cardington is lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Cardington are B for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 7% work in Cardington; the top destination outside it is Columbus (11%, 36 miles). Working residents average 32 minutes each way; Ohio averages 23, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Cardington in brief
Cardington’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Cardington is Columbus, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (97) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Cardington makes and builds things
57% of the jobs based in Cardington are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Cardington residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Cardington workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 23 across Ohio. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical 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; with 844 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Cardington earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cardington is better than 55% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Cardington’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($70,260, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cardington could be anywhere from C to A−.
How far it is to work from Cardington
About 17% 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.
Cardington works in goods: 57% of its jobs
711 jobs are based in Cardington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cardington, 2013 → 2023: 929 → 711. 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 Cardington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Cardington: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cardington workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 956 commuters (the 10% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Cardington
On a workday 782 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 649 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.84 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 the trip to work from Cardington ends
Where Cardington clocks in
11% 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.
Most of Cardington commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,059 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). 4.9% of Cardington households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Cardington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cardington next to U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000: 1,910th of 5,102 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Jersey Township OH | 2,678 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Silver Lake OH | 2,504 | $140K | 2.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,908 | New Haven VT | 1,742 | $92K | 3.1% | 4.9% | 5% | B |
| 1,909 | Sparta MO | 1,953 | $63K | 11.9% | 1.5% | 4% | B |
| 1,910 | Cardington OH | 2,247 | $70K | 10.3% | 2.7% | 7% | B |
| 1,911 | Sciota Township MI | 1,680 | $83K | 10.5% | 2.4% | 1% | B |
| 1,912 | Chester Township OH | 2,401 | $65K | 5.7% | 1.3% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Cardington, 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 Cardington: questions
What is the median household income in Cardington?
$70,260 (±$14,884) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cardington?
10.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cardington?
32 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cardington work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (11%, 36 mi), Delaware (8%, 17 mi), Marion (5%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cardington walkable?
Cardington is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cardington without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cardington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cardington
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.