Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Household incomes in Dover are lower than in 67% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 11.5% (Ohio 13.3%). For jobs and income Dover is better than 52% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in five work in Dover; the top destination outside it is New Philadelphia (11%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Dover
Job access by car holds Dover’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($64,276, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dover could be anywhere from C to A−.
The daily flow of workers through Dover
On a workday 4,147 residents head out to work, 1,174 work right here, and 6,311 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Dover on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.41 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 Dover goes to work
Where Dover clocks in
11% of workers
6% of workers
3% 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.
Goods, not services: 32% of the jobs in Dover
7,485 jobs are based in Dover.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dover, 2013 → 2023: 7,981 → 7,485. 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 Dover’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Dover spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dover workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,419 commuters (the 9% 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 it is to work from Dover
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.
Getting around Dover: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.9% 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 5,964 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). 7.2% of Dover households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dover’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Dover is 1,405th among 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 4 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Jerome Township OH | 11,237 | $176K | 0.4% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,403 | Spring Creek NV | 14,739 | $105K | 7.3% | 4.1% | 6% | B− |
| 1,404 | Fruitland Park FL | 9,543 | $83K | 10.4% | 3.8% | 5% | B− |
| 1,405 | Dover OH | 12,947 | $64K | 11.5% | 3.5% | 22% | B− |
| 1,406 | Columbia Township IN | 12,082 | $70K | 12.8% | 3.3% | 17% | B− |
| 1,407 | Ladson SC | 16,140 | $79K | 12.3% | 5.3% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Dover, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
13% of Dover works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dover workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | – | B− | B+ | 22 min | $64,276 |
| Dover Township | 2% | B | C− | 21 min | $79,362 |
| New Philadelphia | 11% | C+ | B | 20 min | $58,547 |
| Parral | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Parral: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to New Philadelphia. Darker towns draw more of Dover’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 Dover: questions
What is the median household income in Dover?
$64,276 (±$8,151) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dover?
11.5%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dover?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dover work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Philadelphia (11%, 4 mi), Canton (6%, 20 mi), Sugarcreek (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dover walkable?
Dover is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dover without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dover, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dover
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.