Households in Powell have higher incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 32% of workers, next to 13% for Ohio as a whole. Poverty touches 1.1% of residents; Ohio has 13.3%. For jobs and income Powell is among the top U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Powell at work: what stands out
Home offices are common in Powell
32% of Powell workers work from home, against 13% across Ohio. Time on the road ↓
Powell and Columbus trade workers both ways
Columbus is the top workplace for Powell residents (44%) and also where the most people who work in Powell come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Powell
74% of Powell residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 52% of the jobs based in Powell pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Powell
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Powell is among the top U.S. towns, #5 of 992 in Ohio. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Powell’s grade. It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Powell stays A+.
About 24 minutes to work from Powell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Powell workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,815 commuters (the 32% 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.
44% of working residents work in Columbus
Where Powell clocks in
44% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
3,196 jobs are based in Powell.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Powell, 2013 → 2023: 2,841 → 3,196. 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 Powell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Powell, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 6,494 residents head out to work, 184 work right here, and 3,012 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Powell on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.48 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
How far Powell’s workers travel
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 of Powell commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 7,047 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 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). 2.1% of Powell households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Powell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,915 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000, Powell comes 9th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 8 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| 9 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| 10 | Lower Moreland Township PA | 14,116 | $154K | 2.6% | 2.0% | 6% | A+ |
| 11 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Hudson OH | 23,085 | $171K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Blue Ash OH | 13,707 | $115K | 4.0% | 1.2% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | 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 Powell, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
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 Powell: questions
What is the median household income in Powell?
$195,495 (±$11,041) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Powell?
1.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Powell?
24 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 32% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Powell work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (44%, 14 mi), Dublin (8%, 5 mi), Liberty Township (5%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Powell walkable?
Powell is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Powell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Powell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Powell
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.