Photo: User:OHWiki · CC BY-SA 2.5Marion has lower household incomes than 90% of U.S. towns
4% of workers have no commute at all; Ohio has 13%. 22.4% of residents are in poverty, against 13.3% across Ohio. Jobs and income earn Marion D; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Marion apart
How Marion earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marion is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #960 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Marion’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (9.4%, U.S. 5.2%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marion stays D.
Marion’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marion workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,503 commuters (the 4% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Marion
On a workday 11,475 residents head out to work, 2,349 work right here, and 7,055 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Marion on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.68 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.
16% of working residents work in Marion Township
Where Marion clocks in
16% of workers
11% 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 9,404 jobs in Marion are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marion, 2013 → 2023: 10,076 → 9,404. 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 Marion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Marion commutes
About 20% 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.
In Marion, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marion is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns, #387 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Marion near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 13,028 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). 9.8% of Marion households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Marion’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Marion compares with U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,206 | Marion IN | 28,234 | $43K | 29.6% | 7.7% | 43% | D |
| 1,207 | Danville IL | 28,138 | $46K | 24.5% | 8.3% | 40% | D |
| 1,208 | Marion OH | 35,587 | $48K | 22.4% | 9.4% | 17% | D |
| 1,209 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | D |
| 1,210 | Clovis NM | 37,127 | $55K | 21.7% | 8.8% | 51% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | 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 Marion, 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 Marion: questions
What is the median household income in Marion?
$47,951 (±$3,354) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marion?
22.4%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marion?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marion work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marion Township (16%, 0 mi), Columbus (11%, 43 mi), Delaware (4%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marion walkable?
Marion is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marion without a car?
1% 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 Marion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marion
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.