Photo: Nyttend · Public domainUnemployment in Covington (7.1%) is higher than in 83% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Covington is behind 74% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Covington is better than 45% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in seven stay in Covington for work; outside it, Troy is the main destination (14%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Covington in brief
The figures behind Covington’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Covington’s grade up (5.3%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Covington could be anywhere from C to A−.
35% of the jobs in Covington make or build things
989 jobs are based in Covington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Covington, 2013 → 2023: 882 → 989. 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 Covington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,079 residents head out to work, 157 work right here, and 832 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 (0.80 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 Covington work
Where Covington clocks in
14% 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.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Covington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Covington workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,061 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Covington
About 15% 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.
Most trips from Covington start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.7% across Ohio.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,189 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). 6.4% of Covington households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Covington’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,650th of 5,278: where Covington ranks among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Jersey Township OH | 2,678 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Silver Lake OH | 2,504 | $140K | 2.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Evendale OH | 2,657 | $149K | 1.5% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,648 | Soulsbyville CA | 2,101 | $97K | 3.2% | 10.5% | 1% | B− |
| 2,649 | Newton IL | 2,715 | $62K | 11.1% | 1.3% | 25% | B− |
| 2,650 | Covington OH | 2,635 | $60K | 5.3% | 7.1% | 13% | B− |
| 2,651 | Ganges Township MI | 2,676 | $78K | 13.0% | 4.4% | 6% | B− |
| 2,652 | Pokagon Township MI | 2,084 | $72K | 9.0% | 5.2% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,278 | 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 Covington, 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 Covington: questions
What is the median household income in Covington?
$59,750 (±$20,266) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Covington?
5.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Covington?
25 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Covington work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Troy (14%, 9 mi), Piqua (11%, 6 mi), Sidney (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Covington walkable?
Covington is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Covington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Covington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Covington
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.