Photo: Nyttend · Public domainAt 1.7%, unemployment in Ottawa is lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Ottawa; the top destination outside it is Findlay (8%, 21 miles). Ottawa grades B for jobs and income and B for walkability. The trip to work takes 23 minutes on average (Ohio 23, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Ottawa: the gist
Why Ottawa gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ottawa is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #493 of 992 in Ohio. Unemployment holds Ottawa’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ottawa could be anywhere from C to A−.
Who leaves Ottawa for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,532 residents head out to work, 523 work right here, and 3,006 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,900 people are in Ottawa on a workday afternoon, 33% more than live here.
1.7 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.
The daily trip into Ottawa
Where Ottawa clocks in
8% of workers
6% 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 Ottawa’s employers do
3,529 jobs are based in Ottawa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ottawa, 2013 → 2023: 3,266 → 3,529. 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 Ottawa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way for Ottawa’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ottawa workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,028 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Ottawa
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.
Most trips from Ottawa start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ottawa is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #316 of 993 in Ohio. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 2,183 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). 4.9% of Ottawa households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ottawa’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ottawa ranks: 1,682nd of 4,000 U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | South Russell OH | 3,913 | $172K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Beechwood Trails OH | 3,133 | $111K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Guilford Township OH | 3,158 | $112K | 0.5% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,680 | Gratis Township OH | 4,192 | $89K | 13.6% | 3.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,681 | Lanai City HI | 3,393 | $92K | 6.7% | 2.2% | 32% | B |
| 1,682 | Ottawa OH | 4,437 | $70K | 8.6% | 1.7% | 25% | B |
| 1,683 | Locke Township IN | 4,301 | $88K | 5.0% | 6.8% | 14% | B |
| 1,684 | Adams Township PA | 5,558 | $70K | 10.7% | 0.5% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | 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 Ottawa, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
Work in the towns next to Ottawa
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ottawa workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa | – | B | B | 23 min | $69,950 |
| Glandorf | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Glandorf: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ottawa’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 Ottawa: questions
What is the median household income in Ottawa?
$69,950 (±$19,646) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ottawa?
8.6%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ottawa?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ottawa work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Findlay (8%, 21 mi), Lima (6%, 20 mi), Kalida (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ottawa walkable?
Ottawa is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ottawa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ottawa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ottawa
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.