Photo: Coastermom · CC BY 3.0Work and commuting in Kettering
About one in seven work in Kettering; the top destination outside it is Dayton (19%, 7 miles). The two grades for Kettering are B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 9.5 in Dayton.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Kettering and work: the main findings
Kettering trades workers with the towns around it
Kettering has about as many jobs (28,174) as working residents (26,306), but they are mostly different people: 22,673 residents leave for work each day while 24,541 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Kettering are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Kettering works one town over
40% of working residents work in a town that borders Kettering: Dayton (19%), Beavercreek (6%) and Moraine (4%). Next door ↓
Most Kettering residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
Where Kettering’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kettering is better than 69% of U.S. towns, #378 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Kettering’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($74,681, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kettering could be anywhere from B to A−.
How a workday changes Kettering
On a workday 22,673 residents head out to work, 3,633 work right here, and 24,541 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 (1.07 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.
Half of Kettering commutes less than 7 miles
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.
Where Kettering’s working residents head each day
Where Kettering clocks in
19% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Kettering
28,174 jobs are based in Kettering.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kettering, 2013 → 2023: 26,439 → 28,174. 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 Kettering’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Kettering: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kettering workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,534 commuters (the 13% 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.
Kettering is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kettering is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #91 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 29,226 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 95% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 31% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 6.1% of Kettering households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Kettering’s commuters take a bus or train.
Kettering is 375th of 773 U.S. towns of 40,000 to 77,000 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 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Dublin OH | 49,094 | $160K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Washington Township OH | 51,915 | $148K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 373 | Puyallup WA | 42,682 | $98K | 7.0% | 6.0% | 11% | B+ |
| 374 | San Luis Obispo CA | 50,636 | $74K | 30.4% | 7.0% | 39% | B+ |
| 375 | Kettering OH | 57,396 | $75K | 8.3% | 3.8% | 14% | B+ |
| 376 | Malden MA | 66,370 | $101K | 11.4% | 5.4% | 7% | B+ |
| 377 | Towson MD | 58,679 | $101K | 12.1% | 4.8% | 14% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 773 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Kettering, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Kettering and its neighbors: 40% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kettering workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kettering | – | B+ | A− | 20 min | $74,681 |
| Oakwood | under 2% | A+ | A− | 21 min | $156,667 |
| Moraine | 4% | C | A | 23 min | $48,788 |
| Dayton | 19% | C− | A+ | 20 min | $45,247 |
| Washington Township | 4% | A | B+ | 22 min | $98,679 |
| Sugarcreek Township | under 2% | A+ | C+ | 23 min | $186,172 |
| Beavercreek Township | under 2% | A | C+ | 21 min | $116,743 |
| Centerville | 4% | A− | A− | 20 min | $85,492 |
| Beavercreek | 6% | A− | C+ | 20 min | $110,088 |
| Miami Township | 3% | B | B | 24 min | $79,536 |
| Riverside | under 2% | C+ | B+ | 21 min | $61,352 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Dayton. Darker towns draw more of Kettering’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 Kettering: questions
What is the median household income in Kettering?
$74,681 (±$2,620) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kettering?
8.3%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kettering?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kettering work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dayton (19%, 7 mi), Beavercreek (6%, 5 mi), Washington Township (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kettering walkable?
Kettering is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kettering without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 31% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kettering, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kettering
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.