Photo: Niagara · CC BY-SA 3.0Painesville has lower household incomes than 86% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Painesville is better than 22% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (A). Below the poverty line: 25.6% of residents; Ohio has 13.3%. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.7 in Cleveland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Painesville in brief
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Painesville
Job access by car holds Painesville’s grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Painesville could be anywhere from C− to C+.
19% of working residents work in Mentor
Where Painesville clocks in
19% 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.
Painesville quiets down on a workday
On a workday 7,879 residents head out to work, 846 work right here, and 5,712 people come in from elsewhere.
About 18,000 people are in Painesville on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.75 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.
The 6,558 jobs based in Painesville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Painesville, 2013 → 2023: 6,299 → 6,558. 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 Painesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Painesville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Painesville workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,640 commuters (the 8% 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.
How far it is to work from Painesville
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Painesville
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,419 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, >99% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% 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). 10.2% of Painesville households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Painesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Painesville is 1,697th among 1,931 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Genoa Township OH | 27,720 | $177K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,695 | Brent FL | 23,813 | $49K | 22.5% | 6.0% | 13% | C− |
| 1,696 | Stuart FL | 19,451 | $60K | 17.3% | 8.2% | 24% | C− |
| 1,697 | Painesville OH | 20,660 | $52K | 25.6% | 6.5% | 10% | C− |
| 1,698 | Muskegon Township MI | 17,911 | $55K | 16.6% | 7.9% | 6% | C− |
| 1,699 | Twentynine Palms CA | 25,939 | $63K | 14.5% | 3.9% | 16% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,931 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Painesville, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
The towns next door employ 26% of Painesville
The biggest share goes to Mentor (19%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Painesville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Painesville | – | C− | A | 20 min | $51,516 |
| Painesville Township | 4% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Fairport Harbor | under 2% | C | A− | 22 min | $52,308 |
| Concord Township | 3% | A+ | C− | 25 min | $121,527 |
| Mentor | 19% | A | B+ | 22 min | $88,949 |
Same-state neighbors only. Painesville Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Painesville’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 Painesville: questions
What is the median household income in Painesville?
$51,516 (±$5,935) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Painesville?
25.6%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Painesville?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Painesville work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mentor (19%, 5 mi), Cleveland (11%, 28 mi), Willoughby (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Painesville walkable?
Painesville is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Painesville without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. >99% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Painesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Painesville
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.