Photo: AJHalliwell at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Garfield Heights (8.4%) than in 90% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Garfield Heights is behind 82% of U.S. towns. Garfield Heights grades C for jobs and income and A for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.7 in Cleveland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Garfield Heights
Garfield Heights and Cleveland trade workers both ways
Cleveland is the top workplace for Garfield Heights residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Garfield Heights come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Garfield Heights residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Garfield Heights draws workers from far and wide
The 9,815 jobs in Garfield Heights are filled from a wide area. Garfield Heights’ own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 33%; the other 60% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Garfield Heights’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Garfield Heights is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #848 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Garfield Heights’ grade up (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Garfield Heights could be anywhere from C− to C+.
29% of working residents work in Cleveland
Where Garfield Heights clocks in
29% of workers
4% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Garfield Heights
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.
Garfield Heights quiets down on a workday
On a workday 11,963 residents head out to work, 665 work right here, and 9,150 people come in from elsewhere.
About 26,000 people are in Garfield Heights on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 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.
What Garfield Heights’ employers do
9,815 jobs are based in Garfield Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garfield Heights, 2014 → 2024: 10,373 → 9,815. 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 Garfield Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way for Garfield Heights’ 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 Garfield Heights workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,166 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.
Garfield Heights is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Garfield Heights is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #59 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% 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 13,372 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 89% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 22% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 75% 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). 11.6% of Garfield Heights households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Garfield Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
Garfield Heights places 1,282nd of 1,467 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 20,000 to 39,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 8% | A+ |
| 8 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,280 | Winchester VA | 28,272 | $64K | 21.5% | 6.4% | 28% | C |
| 1,281 | Rock Springs WY | 22,936 | $69K | 16.1% | 5.2% | 54% | C |
| 1,282 | Garfield Heights OH | 28,790 | $55K | 22.0% | 8.4% | 5% | C |
| 1,283 | Holiday FL | 22,785 | $48K | 19.3% | 4.8% | 3% | C |
| 1,284 | Dolton IL | 20,671 | $58K | 21.7% | 12.8% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 16% | 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 Garfield Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Garfield Heights and its neighbors: 31% work next door
The biggest share goes to Cleveland (29%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Garfield Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield Heights | – | C | A | 21 min | $54,593 |
| Cleveland | 29% | C− | A+ | 23 min | $40,801 |
| Valley View | 2% | A− | A− | 23 min | $110,125 |
| Maple Heights | under 2% | C− | A | 22 min | $53,414 |
| Cuyahoga Heights | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Cuyahoga Heights: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Garfield Heights’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 Garfield Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Garfield Heights?
$54,593 (±$5,060) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garfield Heights?
22.0%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garfield Heights?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Garfield Heights work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (29%, 6 mi), Solon (4%, 9 mi), Independence (3%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Garfield Heights walkable?
Garfield Heights is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Garfield Heights without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 22% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Garfield Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garfield Heights
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.