Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Columbus draws about half of Gahanna’s working residents
For 25% of workers, the job is at home, next to 13% for Ohio as a whole. Gahanna grades A for jobs and income and B for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Gahanna
Gahanna trades workers with the towns around it
Gahanna has about as many jobs (20,784) as working residents (17,859), but they are mostly different people: 16,431 residents leave for work each day while 19,356 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Gahanna are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
More than half of Gahanna works in Columbus
9,015 working residents, 50%, have their main job in Columbus, 6.6 miles away across the town line. That’s 6 times as many as work in Gahanna itself. The commute map ↓
A lot of Gahanna works from home
25% of Gahanna workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Time on the road ↓
Most Gahanna residents work close to home
62% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Gahanna’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gahanna is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #87 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (2.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gahanna could be anywhere from A− to A+.
In and out of Gahanna on a workday
On a workday 16,431 residents head out to work, 1,428 work right here, and 19,356 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 (1.16 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from Gahanna work
Where Gahanna clocks in
50% of workers
3% 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.
About 20 minutes to work from Gahanna
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gahanna workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,749 commuters (the 25% 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 many miles Gahanna commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The kinds of work in Gahanna
20,784 jobs are based in Gahanna.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gahanna, 2014 → 2024: 17,459 → 20,784. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Gahanna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Gahanna: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gahanna is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #347 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 18,256 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 36% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 52% 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). 5.3% of Gahanna households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gahanna’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gahanna next to U.S. towns of 25,000 to 49,000: 124th of 1,239 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Glenview IL | 47,711 | $143K | 6.0% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| 123 | Madison MS | 28,575 | $119K | 4.8% | 2.0% | 8% | A |
| 124 | Gahanna OH | 35,986 | $109K | 5.6% | 2.6% | 8% | A |
| 125 | Batavia Township IL | 35,974 | $132K | 4.9% | 3.2% | 10% | A |
| 126 | Buffalo Grove IL | 42,812 | $129K | 7.2% | 2.7% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,239 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Gahanna, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
50% of Gahanna works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gahanna workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gahanna | – | A | B | 20 min | $109,061 |
| Mifflin Township | under 1% | A | B | 20 min | $104,427 |
| Jefferson Township | under 1% | A+ | C | 23 min | $131,250 |
| Columbus | 50% | B− | A | 22 min | $66,082 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Columbus. Darker towns draw more of Gahanna’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 2024, 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 Gahanna: questions
What is the median household income in Gahanna?
$109,061 (±$6,421) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gahanna?
5.6%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gahanna?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gahanna work?
8% work in town.
Is Gahanna walkable?
Gahanna is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gahanna without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gahanna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gahanna
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.