Photo: (WT-en) NEOhioguide at English Wikivoyage · Public domainHouseholds in Dalton earn less than those in 61% of U.S. towns
Dalton grades B+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Poverty touches 4.1% of residents (Ohio 13.3%). About one in ten work in Dalton itself; outside it, Wooster draws the most (11%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Dalton: the figures worth knowing
Where Dalton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Dalton is better than 75% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Dalton’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($68,571, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (3.9%) is left out: Dalton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Dalton could be anywhere from B− to A.
A place that makes things: 36% of Dalton’s jobs are in goods
797 jobs are based in Dalton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dalton, 2013 → 2023: 759 → 797. 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 Dalton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Dalton
On a workday 729 residents head out to work, 75 work right here, and 722 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 (0.99 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 Dalton’s working residents head each day
Where Dalton clocks in
9% 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Dalton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dalton workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 665 commuters (the 6% 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.
How far Dalton’s workers travel
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 Dalton start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dalton is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 707 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). 12.1% of Dalton households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dalton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Dalton is 983rd of 5,921 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Silver Lake OH | 2,504 | $140K | 2.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Millcreek Township OH | 1,562 | $151K | 2.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 981 | Hebron IL | 1,392 | $85K | 6.6% | 3.5% | 6% | B+ |
| 982 | Sea Bright NJ | 1,460 | $143K | 6.9% | 6.0% | 5% | B+ |
| 983 | Dalton OH | 1,921 | $69K | 4.1% | 3.9% | 9% | B+ |
| 984 | Ozawkie Township KS | 1,638 | $99K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 1% | B+ |
| 985 | Berlin Township MI | 2,160 | $74K | 3.7% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Dalton, 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 Dalton: questions
What is the median household income in Dalton?
$68,571 (±$19,997) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dalton?
4.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dalton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dalton work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wooster (11%, 12 mi), Orrville (9%, 5 mi), Sugar Creek Township (7%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dalton walkable?
Dalton is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dalton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dalton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dalton
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.