Photo: Vasiliymeshko · CC BY 4.0Households in Ironton earn less than those in 90% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Ironton itself; outside it, Ashland draws the most (13%, 5 miles). Poverty touches 23.7% of residents, next to 13.3% for Ohio as a whole. For jobs and income Ironton is better than 9% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Ironton: the gist
Ironton trades workers with the towns around it
Ironton has about as many jobs (4,094) as working residents (4,284), but they are mostly different people: 3,343 residents leave for work each day while 3,153 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Ironton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Ironton has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Ironton went from 3,042 in 2013 to 4,094 in 2023, +35%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Ironton’s grade
Job access by car holds Ironton’s grade up (ahead of 35% 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, Ironton could be anywhere from D to C−.
Who leaves Ironton for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,343 residents head out to work, 941 work right here, and 3,153 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 (0.96 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.
Inside Ironton’s 4,094 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ironton, 2013 → 2023: 3,042 → 4,094. 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 Ironton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Ironton’s residents
Where Ironton clocks in
13% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
Ironton’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ironton workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,797 commuters (the 7% 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 commute from Ironton, by distance
About 26% 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.
Few in Ironton walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 4,068 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 Ironton households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ironton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ironton compares with U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 5 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Jerome Township OH | 11,237 | $176K | 0.4% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,738 | Morrilton AR | 7,195 | $48K | 25.5% | 10.3% | 26% | D |
| 2,739 | Clarksville AR | 9,632 | $37K | 27.6% | 5.4% | 43% | D |
| 2,740 | Ironton OH | 10,148 | $48K | 23.7% | 6.8% | 22% | D |
| 2,741 | Lexington TN | 8,130 | $49K | 18.4% | 8.3% | 37% | D |
| 2,742 | Uniontown PA | 9,434 | $35K | 27.8% | 9.2% | 14% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Ironton, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Next door to Ironton
The biggest share goes to Coal Grove (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ironton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ironton | – | D | B | 22 min | $47,648 |
| Upper Township | 1% | D | B | 22 min | $48,548 |
| Coal Grove | 2% | C− | A | 20 min | $61,250 |
| Hanging Rock | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Hamilton Township | under 2% | C | C− | 23 min | $57,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. Hanging Rock: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ironton’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 Ironton: questions
What is the median household income in Ironton?
$47,648 (±$4,611) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ironton?
23.7%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ironton?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ironton work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ashland (13%, 5 mi), Huntington (5%, 16 mi), Portsmouth (4%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ironton walkable?
Ironton is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ironton without a car?
0% 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 Ironton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ironton
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.