Photo: Tmariemdith · CC BY-SA 4.061% of Oxford’s residents are college students
Jobs & income C+: better than 39% of U.S. towns on family income, poverty and job access · #736 of 992 in Ohio.
Walkability A+: more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns · #2 of 993 in Ohio.
Family incomes here are higher than in 65% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 15 minutes each way (Ohio 23, U.S. 26). About one in four work in Oxford; the top destination outside it is Cincinnati (10%, 28 miles).
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.0 transit trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 15.3 in Cincinnati (EPA, 2020 schedules).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Oxford
Oxford has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Oxford went from 4,316 in 2013 to 8,218 in 2023, +90%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Oxford are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 23 across Ohio. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Ohio worker. Time on the road ↓
Oxford’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Oxford is Cincinnati, 28 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (591) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Oxford pay little
26% of the jobs based in Oxford pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 31% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Oxford’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Oxford is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #736 of 992 in Ohio. Family income holds Oxford’s grade up ($104,534, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.5%, U.S. 11.9%).
61% of Oxford’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (44% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 21.5%, against 45.5% for all residents. Unemployment (14.4%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($104,534), since student households pull the household median down ($40,764).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Oxford could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
8,218 jobs are based in Oxford. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Oxford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oxford, 2013 → 2023: 4,316 → 8,218. 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.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Ohio
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oxford workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,290 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.
Half of Oxford commutes less than 24 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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.
Oxford fills up on a workday
On a workday 4,169 residents head out to work, 1,761 work right here, and 6,457 people come in from elsewhere.
About 25,000 people are in Oxford on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 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.
10% of working residents work in Cincinnati
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Oxford clocks in
10% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Oxford 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, Oxford is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #2 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Oxford 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 7,443 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 89% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 47% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.1% of Oxford households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Oxford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oxford is 1,258th of 1,658 U.S. towns of 16,000 to 30,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Oxford, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| 4 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,256 | Cullman AL | 20,799 | $61K | 19.9% | 2.9% | 33% | C+ |
| 1,257 | Winchester KY | 19,514 | $54K | 17.3% | 3.6% | 25% | C+ |
| 1,258 | Oxford OH | 22,387 | $41K | 45.5% | 14.4% | 30% | C+ |
| 1,259 | Horseheads NY | 18,383 | $69K | 12.8% | 4.9% | 22% | C+ |
| 1,260 | Slidell LA | 28,341 | $70K | 15.7% | 5.8% | 19% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,658 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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.
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.
- Students. 61% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Oxford: questions
What is the median household income in Oxford?
$40,764 (±$4,925) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oxford?
45.5% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 21.5%. Ohio: 13.3%.
How long is the commute from Oxford?
15 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oxford work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cincinnati (10%, 28 mi), Hamilton (5%, 12 mi), Columbus (4%, 99 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oxford walkable?
Oxford is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 29% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oxford without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 47% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oxford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oxford
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.