Photo: Tim Evanson from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer people are out of work in Mentor (2.9%) than in 71% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute from Mentor lasts 22 minutes (Ohio 23, U.S. 26). Mentor grades A for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Mentor is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Mentor
Mentor’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mentor is Cleveland, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (2,746) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Mentor gains people on a workday
About 57,000 people are in Mentor on a workday afternoon, 22% more than the 47,000 who live here: 27,000 come in to work and 17,000 head out. Day and night ↓
Mentor makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Mentor are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Mentor residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. 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.
The four measures behind Mentor’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mentor is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #179 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 82% of U.S. towns); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($88,949, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mentor could be anywhere from A− to A.
The distance from Mentor to work
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.
Who works in Mentor, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 16,509 residents head out to work, 5,183 work right here, and 26,714 people come in from elsewhere.
About 57,000 people are in Mentor on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 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.
Goods, not services: 35% of the jobs in Mentor
31,897 jobs are based in Mentor.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mentor, 2013 → 2023: 29,688 → 31,897. 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 Mentor’s own residents hold wherever they work.
13% of working residents work in Cleveland
Where Mentor clocks in
13% of workers
6% of workers
3% 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.
Commuting from Mentor: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mentor workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 20,740 commuters (the 15% 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 in Mentor is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mentor is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #201 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 24,314 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 91% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% 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). 4.2% of Mentor households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Mentor’s commuters take a bus or train.
216th of 923: where Mentor ranks among U.S. towns of 33,000 to 63,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Dublin OH | 49,094 | $160K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 214 | Washington Township NJ | 49,840 | $114K | 5.5% | 4.5% | 13% | A |
| 215 | Des Plaines IL | 58,772 | $98K | 6.0% | 4.1% | 9% | A |
| 216 | Mentor OH | 47,010 | $89K | 5.2% | 2.9% | 24% | A |
| 217 | Prosper TX | 45,605 | $195K | 5.5% | 5.6% | 9% | A |
| 218 | Brookhaven GA | 59,643 | $118K | 10.3% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 923 | 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 Mentor, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Work next door: 13% of Mentor’s workers
The biggest share goes to Willoughby (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mentor workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentor | – | A | B+ | 22 min | $88,949 |
| Kirtland Hills | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Willoughby | 6% | B | A− | 23 min | $71,309 |
| Mentor-on-the-Lake | under 2% | B+ | A− | 21 min | $67,188 |
| Painesville Township | 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Concord Township | 2% | A+ | C− | 25 min | $121,527 |
| Painesville | 3% | C− | A | 20 min | $51,516 |
| Kirtland | under 2% | A− | C− | 24 min | $110,455 |
| Grand River | under 2% | — | — | 16 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Kirtland Hills and Grand River: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Painesville Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mentor’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 Mentor: questions
What is the median household income in Mentor?
$88,949 (±$3,671) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mentor?
5.2%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mentor?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mentor work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (13%, 23 mi), Willoughby (6%, 5 mi), Euclid (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mentor walkable?
Mentor is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 12.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mentor without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 91% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mentor, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mentor
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.