Photo: Logan Rickert · CC BY 2.0Eaton has lower unemployment (1.5%) than 90% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Eaton B−; getting around on foot earns it B+. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, where Ohio as a whole has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Eaton
Eaton makes and builds things
54% of the jobs based in Eaton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Eaton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 32%. The jobs ↓
Eaton is where the jobs are
Eaton has 6,635 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Eaton workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Eaton draws workers from far and wide
The 6,635 jobs in Eaton are filled from a wide area. Eaton’s own residents hold 18% and the ten next-biggest home towns 25%; the other 57% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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 Eaton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Eaton is better than 49% of U.S. towns, #629 of 992 in Ohio. Unemployment holds Eaton’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($51,467, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Eaton could be anywhere from C to B.
Goods jobs make up 54% of work in Eaton
6,635 jobs are based in Eaton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Eaton, 2013 → 2023: 5,401 → 6,635. 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 Eaton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Eaton on a workday
On a workday 2,397 residents head out to work, 1,165 work right here, and 5,470 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Eaton on a workday afternoon, 37% more than live here.
1.9 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Eaton’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 Eaton workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,757 commuters (the 3% 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.
Who travels to work in Eaton, and from where
Where Eaton clocks in
6% 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.
Where in the region Eaton works
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 Eaton start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Eaton is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #242 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Eaton 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 3,870 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). 8.7% of Eaton households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Eaton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Eaton places 1,793rd of 3,012 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Madeira OH | 9,637 | $168K | 2.5% | 1.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 26 | The Village of Indian Hill OH | 6,114 | $235K | 3.1% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Pepper Pike OH | 6,886 | $228K | 1.8% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,791 | Berkley CO | 10,789 | $85K | 14.1% | 8.7% | 2% | B− |
| 1,792 | Seven Corners VA | 9,371 | $77K | 17.8% | 6.0% | 2% | B− |
| 1,793 | Eaton OH | 8,327 | $51K | 14.1% | 1.5% | 33% | B− |
| 1,794 | Munford TN | 6,996 | $90K | 8.8% | 7.9% | 4% | B− |
| 1,795 | Chatham MA | 6,752 | $85K | 10.8% | 3.9% | 26% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,012 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Eaton, 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 Eaton: questions
What is the median household income in Eaton?
$51,467 (±$9,101) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Eaton?
14.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Eaton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Eaton work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dayton (6%, 23 mi), Richmond (4%, 15 mi), Lewisburg (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Eaton walkable?
Eaton is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Eaton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Eaton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Eaton
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.