Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Manchester’s
Measured by household income, Manchester is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 44.5% of residents; Ohio has 13.3%. The two grades for Manchester are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Manchester at work: what stands out
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Few Manchester workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Manchester 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; with 523 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Manchester’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Manchester is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Manchester’s grade.
Unemployment (7.9%) is left out: Manchester’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Manchester stays D−.
How far Manchester goes to work
About 34% 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.
Commuting from Manchester: about 29 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manchester workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 748 commuters (the 1% 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 flow of workers through Manchester
On a workday 461 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 250 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Manchester on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.60 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
13% of working residents work in West Union
Where Manchester clocks in
13% 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 the 312 jobs in Manchester are
312 jobs are based in Manchester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manchester, 2013 → 2023: 315 → 312. 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 Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Manchester start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manchester is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. 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 752 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). 9.6% of Manchester households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Manchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, and where Manchester sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Millcreek Township OH | 1,562 | $151K | 2.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Bratenahl OH | 1,396 | $138K | 4.4% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,643 | Simmesport LA | 1,400 | $30K | 37.6% | 13.6% | 17% | D− |
| 5,644 | Belhaven NC | 1,414 | $33K | 40.3% | 12.5% | 14% | D− |
| 5,645 | Manchester OH | 1,874 | $29K | 44.5% | 7.9% | 12% | D− |
| 5,646 | Oceana WV | 1,382 | $33K | 43.1% | 5.1% | 9% | D− |
| 5,647 | Grandview Township OH | 1,376 | $33K | 43.6% | 12.9% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Manchester, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Next door to Manchester
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Manchester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | – | D− | C+ | 29 min | $29,344 |
| Manchester Township | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Manchester Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Manchester’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 Manchester: questions
What is the median household income in Manchester?
$29,344 (±$6,574) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manchester?
44.5%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manchester?
29 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manchester work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Union (13%, 8 mi), Maysville (7%, 10 mi), Winchester (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manchester walkable?
Manchester is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 10.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manchester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manchester
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.