Photo: OZinOH on Flickr · CC BY 2.0At 1.5%, unemployment in Jefferson is lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Jefferson itself; outside it, Ashtabula draws the most (10%, 10 miles). The two grades for Jefferson are B for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Measured by household income, Jefferson is behind 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Jefferson
Jefferson is where the jobs are
Jefferson has 1,940 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Jefferson workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 23 across Ohio. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Jefferson
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jefferson is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #537 of 992 in Ohio. Unemployment holds Jefferson’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($53,333, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jefferson could be anywhere from C to A−.
Who leaves Jefferson for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,119 residents head out to work, 174 work right here, and 1,766 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in Jefferson on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 29 minutes each way for Jefferson’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jefferson workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,456 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 daily trip into Jefferson
Where Jefferson clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
What the 1,940 jobs in Jefferson are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jefferson, 2013 → 2023: 2,126 → 1,940. 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 Jefferson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Jefferson commutes less than 12 miles
About 18% 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 Jefferson walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jefferson is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns, #769 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,568 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). 3.2% of Jefferson households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jefferson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jefferson places 1,858th of 4,562 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Jersey Township OH | 2,678 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Silver Lake OH | 2,504 | $140K | 2.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Evendale OH | 2,657 | $149K | 1.5% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,856 | Ridgway Township PA | 2,384 | $77K | 6.5% | 2.6% | 20% | B |
| 1,857 | Norton KS | 2,651 | $53K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 30% | B |
| 1,858 | Jefferson OH | 3,148 | $53K | 6.5% | 1.5% | 13% | B |
| 1,859 | Greene Township IN | 2,947 | $75K | 6.1% | 5.6% | 3% | B |
| 1,860 | North Sarasota FL | 2,824 | $85K | 8.1% | 7.3% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Jefferson, 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 Jefferson: questions
What is the median household income in Jefferson?
$53,333 (±$13,046) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jefferson?
6.5%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jefferson?
29 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jefferson work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ashtabula (10%, 10 mi), Jefferson Township (6%, 1 mi), Geneva (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jefferson walkable?
Jefferson is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jefferson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jefferson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jefferson
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.