Photo: McKenzie & Snyder · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Hamilton have lower incomes than those in 81% of U.S. towns
19.6% of residents live below the poverty line, where Ohio as a whole has 13.3%. For jobs and income Hamilton is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (A−). About one in seven stay in Hamilton for work; outside it, Fairfield is the main destination (10%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Hamilton
Job access by car holds Hamilton’s grade up (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hamilton could be anywhere from C− to C+.
A workday in Hamilton: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 22,013 residents head out to work, 4,282 work right here, and 16,142 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 (0.78 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.
The places Hamilton commutes to
Where Hamilton clocks in
8% 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.
What work there is in Hamilton: 20,424 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hamilton, 2013 → 2023: 21,370 → 20,424. 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 Hamilton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes to work from Hamilton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hamilton workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 26,265 commuters (the 6% 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.
Miles to work from Hamilton
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Hamilton
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.6% 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 28,086 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 63% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 12% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 8.1% of Hamilton households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hamilton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 698 U.S. towns of 45,000 to 87,000, Hamilton comes 622nd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Dublin OH | 49,094 | $160K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Washington Township OH | 51,915 | $148K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Liberty Township OH | 45,723 | $148K | 3.8% | 2.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 620 | Baytown TX | 86,561 | $60K | 18.2% | 10.2% | 18% | C |
| 621 | North Little Rock AR | 65,120 | $53K | 20.3% | 5.9% | 22% | C |
| 622 | Hamilton OH | 64,644 | $55K | 19.6% | 5.9% | 16% | C |
| 623 | Lancaster PA | 58,366 | $64K | 20.3% | 8.1% | 22% | C |
| 624 | St. Cloud MN | 72,647 | $61K | 20.2% | 6.0% | 44% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 698 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | 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 Hamilton, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Hamilton and its neighbors: 12% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hamilton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton | – | C | A− | 25 min | $55,166 |
| St. Clair Township | under 2% | C | C− | 27 min | $62,378 |
| Hanover Township | under 2% | B+ | D | 26 min | $79,911 |
| Fairfield Township | 2% | A− | C | 24 min | $108,353 |
| Fairfield | 10% | B | B− | 24 min | $77,937 |
| Ross Township | under 2% | A | C− | 29 min | $93,906 |
| New Miami | under 2% | C− | D | 25 min | $43,281 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fairfield. Darker towns draw more of Hamilton’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 Hamilton: questions
What is the median household income in Hamilton?
$55,166 (±$2,901) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hamilton?
19.6%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hamilton?
25 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hamilton work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fairfield (10%, 4 mi), Cincinnati (8%, 18 mi), West Chester Township (7%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hamilton walkable?
Hamilton is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hamilton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 12% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hamilton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hamilton
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.