Photo: Blervis · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Dayton trail those of 93% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 9.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.7 in Cleveland. Below the poverty line: 26.9% of residents; Ohio has 13.3%. Dayton grades C− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Dayton, in a few figures
Dayton is where the jobs are
Dayton has 76,256 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The jobs in Dayton pay better than its residents’ jobs
66% of the jobs based in Dayton pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 48% of the jobs Dayton residents hold. 82% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Dayton. The jobs ↓
Most Dayton residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
The figures behind Dayton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dayton is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #914 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Dayton’s grade up (ahead of 87% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dayton stays C−.
Who commutes out of Dayton, and who commutes in
On a workday 35,956 residents head out to work, 13,396 work right here, and 62,860 people come in from elsewhere.
About 164,000 people are in Dayton on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
66% of the jobs in Dayton pay over $3,333 a month
76,256 jobs are based in Dayton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dayton, 2013 → 2023: 81,390 → 76,256. 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 Dayton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Dayton’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Who travels to work in Dayton, and from where
Where Dayton clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Dayton’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dayton workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 52,469 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Dayton
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dayton is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #13 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Dayton 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 58,113 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 66% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 9.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 93% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 15.9% of Dayton households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Dayton’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
U.S. towns of 96,000 to 185,000, and where Dayton sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 2 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Fishers IN | 104,812 | $130K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 261 | Wayne Township IN | 111,761 | $49K | 23.2% | 8.1% | 27% | C− |
| 262 | Syracuse NY | 144,896 | $48K | 28.8% | 7.7% | 43% | C− |
| 263 | Dayton OH | 136,688 | $45K | 26.9% | 9.0% | 27% | C− |
| 264 | Las Cruces NM | 116,978 | $55K | 22.6% | 7.0% | 60% | C− |
| 265 | Shreveport LA | 175,902 | $49K | 23.5% | 9.0% | 61% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 268 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Dayton, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Work next door: 12% of Dayton’s workers
The biggest share goes to Kettering (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dayton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | – | C− | A+ | 20 min | $45,247 |
| Harrison Township | under 2% | C− | A | 21 min | $45,125 |
| Riverside | under 2% | C+ | B+ | 21 min | $61,352 |
| Jefferson Township | under 2% | C+ | B | 21 min | $73,438 |
| Trotwood | under 2% | C− | A | 25 min | $50,113 |
| Shiloh | under 2% | C− | A− | 20 min | $45,874 |
| Huber Heights | 2% | B+ | B+ | 23 min | $79,131 |
| Fort McKinley | under 2% | C− | A− | 20 min | $45,687 |
| Butler Township | under 2% | A− | C+ | 25 min | $93,151 |
| Moraine | 4% | C | A | 23 min | $48,788 |
| Kettering | 6% | B+ | A− | 20 min | $74,681 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dayton’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 Dayton: questions
What is the median household income in Dayton?
$45,247 (±$1,703) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dayton?
26.9%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dayton?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dayton work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kettering (6%, 7 mi), Beavercreek (4%, 8 mi), Moraine (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dayton walkable?
Dayton is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dayton without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. 66% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dayton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dayton
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.