Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMore people are out of work in Elida (5.1%) than in 63% of U.S. towns
Only 5% work in Elida itself; outside it, Lima draws the most (23%, 6 miles). Elida grades B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 4% 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
Elida and work: the main findings
Elida and Lima trade workers both ways
Lima is the top workplace for Elida residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Elida come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Elida residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Few Elida workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; with 823 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Elida: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Elida is better than 64% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Elida’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elida could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where Elida’s working residents head each day
Where Elida clocks in
23% of workers
12% of workers
7% 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.
Half of Elida commutes less than 8 miles
About 20% 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.
Time on the road from Elida: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elida workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 936 commuters (the 4% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Elida
On a workday 780 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 640 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 (0.83 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.
What Elida’s employers do
683 jobs are based in Elida.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elida, 2013 → 2023: 578 → 683. 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 Elida’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Elida start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elida is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 978 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). 1.7% of Elida households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elida’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,921 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600, Elida comes 1,537th on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,535 | Woodward Township PA | 2,480 | $86K | 6.3% | 3.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,536 | Madison Lake MN | 1,315 | $88K | 6.8% | 4.4% | 2% | B |
| 1,537 | Elida OH | 1,904 | $81K | 3.1% | 5.1% | 5% | B |
| 1,538 | Union Township OH | 1,710 | $84K | 5.2% | 0.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,539 | Townsend Township OH | 1,542 | $72K | 4.0% | 0.0% | 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 Elida, 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 Elida: questions
What is the median household income in Elida?
$81,083 (±$23,973) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elida?
3.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elida?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elida work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lima (23%, 6 mi), American Township (12%, 2 mi), Bath Township (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elida walkable?
Elida is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elida without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elida, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elida
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.