Photo: FunksBrother · CC BY-SA 4.0Coal Grove has higher unemployment (6.7%) than 80% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 72% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Coal Grove C−; getting around on foot earns it A. Home is the office for 1% of workers; Ohio has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Coal Grove, in brief
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Coal Grove
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Coal Grove is better than 19% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Coal Grove’s grade up (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Coal Grove could be anywhere from D to B+.
Commuting from Coal Grove: about 20 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Coal Grove workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 949 commuters (the 1% 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.
A workday in Coal Grove: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 725 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 452 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Coal Grove on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
16% of working residents work in Ashland
Where Coal Grove clocks in
16% of workers
13% of workers
7% 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.
Coal Grove is a services town
487 jobs are based in Coal Grove.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Coal Grove, 2014 → 2024: 583 → 487. 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 Coal Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Coal Grove
About 25% 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.
Coal Grove is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Coal Grove is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Coal Grove 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 956 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). 10.9% of Coal Grove households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Coal Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Coal Grove next to U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400: 3,894th of 5,343 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Millcreek Township OH | 1,562 | $151K | 2.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Bratenahl OH | 1,396 | $138K | 4.4% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,892 | Ravenna NE | 1,397 | $64K | 12.6% | 2.1% | 12% | C− |
| 3,893 | Spruce Pine NC | 2,211 | $42K | 22.5% | 1.8% | 18% | C− |
| 3,894 | Coal Grove OH | 1,808 | $61K | 15.1% | 6.7% | 5% | C− |
| 3,895 | Westhaven-Moonstone CA | 1,537 | $67K | 15.7% | 16.5% | 2% | C− |
| 3,896 | Elk Township MI | 1,498 | $62K | 11.2% | 7.1% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Coal Grove, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Work next door: 16% of Coal Grove’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Coal Grove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal Grove | – | C− | A | 20 min | $61,250 |
| Ironton | 13% | D | B | 22 min | $47,648 |
| Upper Township | under 2% | D | B | 22 min | $48,548 |
| Perry Township | 3% | C | C− | 21 min | $56,484 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Ironton. Darker towns draw more of Coal Grove’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 Coal Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Coal Grove?
$61,250 (±$18,027) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Coal Grove?
15.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Coal Grove?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Coal Grove work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ashland (16%, 2 mi), Ironton (13%, 4 mi), Huntington (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Coal Grove walkable?
Coal Grove is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Coal Grove without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Coal Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Coal Grove
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.