Household incomes in Pomeroy are among the lowest of any U.S. town
Measured by household income, Pomeroy is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 39.6% of residents; Ohio has 13.3%. The two grades for Pomeroy are D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Pomeroy, in brief
The better-paid jobs are outside Pomeroy
46% of Pomeroy residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 22% of the jobs based in Pomeroy pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 90% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Few Pomeroy workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; with 565 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Pomeroy earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Pomeroy is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Pomeroy’s grade up (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Pomeroy’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Pomeroy stays D−.
Inside Pomeroy’s 777 jobs
777 jobs are based in Pomeroy.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pomeroy, 2013 → 2023: 1,072 → 777. 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 Pomeroy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Pomeroy commutes less than 21 miles
About 31% 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.
Getting to work from Pomeroy takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pomeroy workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 635 commuters (the 0% 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.
Pomeroy by day and by night
On a workday 511 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 723 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Pomeroy on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 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.
8% of working residents work in Athens
Where Pomeroy 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.
Pomeroy is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pomeroy is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Pomeroy 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 635 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). 14.9% of Pomeroy households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Pomeroy’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pomeroy next to U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | New California OH | 1,672 | $162K | 0.0% | 1.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Millcreek Township OH | 1,562 | $151K | 2.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Bratenahl OH | 1,396 | $138K | 4.4% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,248 | Willacoochee GA | 1,256 | $33K | 27.7% | 1.1% | 17% | D− |
| 5,249 | Logansport LA | 1,325 | $32K | 36.3% | 14.6% | 5% | D− |
| 5,250 | Pomeroy OH | 1,514 | $33K | 39.6% | 2.8% | 10% | D− |
| 5,251 | Three Rivers TX | 1,732 | $47K | 26.2% | 8.5% | 14% | D− |
| 5,252 | Rainelle WV | 1,180 | $36K | 29.8% | 2.7% | 11% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Pomeroy, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
The towns next door employ 11% of Pomeroy
The biggest share goes to Middleport (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pomeroy workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pomeroy | – | D− | B+ | 29 min | $33,333 |
| Salisbury Township | 5% | D | B− | 30 min | $38,832 |
| Middleport | 6% | D | B− | 31 min | $42,118 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pomeroy’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 Pomeroy: questions
What is the median household income in Pomeroy?
$33,333 (±$14,264) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pomeroy?
39.6%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pomeroy?
29 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pomeroy work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Athens (8%, 20 mi), Columbus (6%, 83 mi), Middleport (6%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pomeroy walkable?
Pomeroy is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pomeroy without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pomeroy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pomeroy
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.